The 2011-12 Union Budget unveiled on Monday by the seasoned Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has predictably drawn fulsome plaudits from his own party members for being pro-poor and in favour of promoting balanced development of the economy but the Opposition parties dubbed it ‘bland, uninspiring, and unimaginative” one not to offer a whit of comfort for the common man.

A cross-section of political parties and its members to whom Business Line spoke in the Central Hall of Parliament soon after the presentation of the Union Budget gave a mixed verdict depending on the political predilections of their parties.

Surprisingly, the RJD chief, Mr Lalu Prasad, hailed the Budget as ‘progressive' and persisting with what the UPA-I had done in terms of providing a strong thrust to rural development, agriculture and the poor. The benefits conferred on the rural people and rural farm producers would help provide more money in their hands to help domestic consumption. His party colleague and former Minister of Company Affairs, Mr Prem Chand Gupta, hailed the scheme for senior citizens and hike in income-tax exemption ceiling for the general category in individual tax payers as being pro-growth.

But the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Arun Jaitley, described the Budget as being bereft of “ideas, vision and an accounting exercise of increasing allocation here and reducing there to make health care costlier for the aam adhmi and other Indians.

His party colleague, Mr S.S. Ahluwalia and a Rajya Sabha MP, said that as India is emerging as a diabetic capital in the world, bringing the services into the health sector would hurt all.

He said the UPA Government should thank the BJP for bringing the sale of spectrum through the auction system which helped the Government to get a bonanza to spend on. The party spokesperson and MP, Mr Prakash Javadekar, characterised the Budget as ‘utterly uninspiring, unimaginative and a routine” one.

A former cricketer and MP of BJP, Mr Kirti Azad said that if the Government was invoking the blessings of Inderdev and Goddess Lakshmi , it proved the point that it is dependent only on God and not on its own efforts to rein in prices of essential items afflicting the aam adhmi .

The JD (U) leader, Mr Sharad Yadav, said if the Finance Minister could claim that granaries are full, why were prices of essential items ruling high, affecting the common man and said it is was routine Budget delivering nothing to small and marginal farmers and to the unemployed youth of the country.

The CPI (M) member, Mr T.K. Rangarajan, said the Budget was framed “keeping an eye on the Assembly Elections to five States” and did not do anything to legions of unorganised sector employers groaning under the gruelling inflation.

However, the Minister of State for Science and Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Aswani Kumar, said, “the Budget is a reaffirmation of the irrevocable commitment of the UPA Government to inclusive economic growth and balanced development of all sector so the economy such as would lead to massive employment generation and poverty reduction.”

Echoing similar sentiment, the Minister of State for Communications, Mr Sachin Pilot, said that by focusing on rural areas, skill development, education and agriculture, the Budget would ensure that the economy grows by nine per cent next fiscal so that more revenues could be generated to expand development programmes to the aam adhmi .

The Minister of State for Finance Mr S.S. Palanimanickam, characterised the Budget as “progressive, pro-poor and nothing negative and every thing positive” to nurture and expand growth impulses.

geeyes@thehindu.co.in

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