Union Budget has failed people of India: Chidambaram

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India] February 11 (ANI): Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said the latest Union Budget for 2018-19 as a whole has failed the people of India.

Speaking at the Loyola Institute of Business Administration during the critical analysis of the Budget, Chidambaram said the nation can see a grim picture for the immediate future of the Indian economy.

"Inflation will rise and fiscal deficit will widen. Macroeconomic stability has been compromised. Distress in farm sector continues. Young men and women will be left unemployed. Exports are way below. Every which way you look at it, this Budget has failed this country. In conclusion, all I can say after seeing this government's fifth Budget is that thank god this government will not present a sixth Budget," he asserted.

Former Union finance minister added that the government could have chosen to solve one of the challenges of fiscal consolidation, acute distress in the farm sector, delivery of welfare and job creation.

"As far as I am concerned, this government has turned out to be a thoroughly incompetent in managing the economy," he said.

Chidambaram further criticised the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPC), saying the government had no way to fund it.

"This scheme will not see the light of the day. If it does, it will be in a rudimentary form. Most diseases, procedures will be excluded. It will be so difficult to access the scheme that 90% of the people will not even make an attempt to access it," he added.

Earlier on February 8, the Congress leader slammed the latest Union Budget presented by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and shot questions in this context at the leading dispensation, at the Rajya Sabha.

Claiming the budget worsened the fiscal deficit, Chidambaram said, "Shall we tell the people, NDA government believes that we must tax the hard-working middle class rather than the rich corporates?" (ANI)