Mere rhetoric, govt engaged in game of repaying loan by taking loan: Hooda

“Similarly, the government has announced to spend Rs 9,647 crore on health services, which is only 5.2 per cent of the budget, whereas in the National Health Policy 2017, eight per cent expenditure on health services was recommended by the year 2020 only,” Hooda said.

Talking about the agriculture sector, the government has proposed Rs 7,342 crore on it, he said. “This is just 3.9 per cent of the total budget while 60 per cent of Haryana’s population is dependent on agriculture. It is unfair to spend less than four per cent for such a large population. Not only this, this budget is also completely silent on the promise of doubling the income of the farmers. This attitude of the government reflects its anti-farmer and anti-agriculture mindset,” he said.

“It has become clear from the budget that debt is continuously increasing. The government has put total internal debt at Rs 2,85,885 crore. This time the government is going to take a loan of Rs 64,840 crore. Due to the increasing debt, the government will have to spend Rs 56,769 crore only in paying its principal and interest,” Hooda pointed out, adding:“This means the government is engaged in playing the game of repaying the loan by taking loan”.

Demanding that the government issue a white paper on “rising debt”, Hooda further said the government has announced to spend a total of Rs 18,460 crore on capital expenditure, which is only 10 per cent of the total budget. “For Haryana, which is facing the highest unemployment in the country, it is not possible to generate employment according to the need with this expenditure. It is grossly insufficient to address the problem.”

Alleging massive exaggeration in numbers, Hooda said: “The government has claimed that the per capita income has risen to Rs 2,96,685.

Accordingly, the annual income of each family is Rs 14,83,425. There are 30 lakh such families in the state, who are directly dependent on agriculture. The NSSO report states that the total income of farmer families does not exceed Rs 22,841 per month. On the other hand, the government claims that more than 29 lakh families (whose income is less than 1.80 lakh) in the state are the beneficiaries of the Ayushman Yojana. In such a situation, the claim of Rs 2,96,685 per capita income is not visible on the ground.”

Hooda claimed that this budget will prove unsuccessful even in stopping rising inflation. “In the neighboring state of Rajasthan, the Congress government has announced to give LPG cylinders for Rs 500 and the people of Haryana were also expecting such an announcement from the state government,” the Congress leader claimed.

The hopes of the people have been “washed away” as the government did not even announce a cut in VAT to give them relief from the high prices of petrol and diesel,” Hooda said. “The government has left the people suffering from inflation and to fend for themselves,” he stated.

Senior Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala dubbed the budget as a “jugglery of figures” and claimed that cuts have been made in allocations to some sectors. He also claimed that the budget has left various sections disappointed.