Proposals lack vision: Congress

Senior Congress leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram slammed the Union Budget 2016-17 as having “no vision.”

Dr. Singh said the announcement by the government that it would double the farm income in five years was an “impossible dream.”

“It is a nit-picking budget. There is no big idea except one that was mentioned yesterday [on Sunday] by the Prime Minister himself that the government plans to double the farmers’ income in the next five years,” Dr. Singh said. Mr. Gandhi called out the government for large allocations to the MGNREGS. Mr. Chidambaram said the budget turned out to be an “accounting exercise” rather than a road map for the economy. “There is no major relief to the taxpayer or the middle class or the small and medium businesspersons,” he added. Speaking of agriculture, Mr. Chidambaram expressed his happiness that the UPA schemes were being continued, but urged a caution over the price rise.