"Sitharaman presented facts with data, economy has improved in last 10 years": Ramdas Athawale amid opposition attack

New Delhi [India], February 12 (ANI): Amid opposition attacks on Nirmala Sitharaman's remarks on the Union Budget, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Wednesday defended her and said that the Finance Minister presented the reality in front of the nation with facts that the Indian economy has improved in the last 10 years.
"Nirmala Sitharaman presented the reality in front of the nation. She pointed out that the Indian economy has improved in the last 10 years. She presented the facts with data. The opposition claims that the non-BJP states did not get anything. But Nirmala Sitharaman presented the data showing that every state has benefitted... The world is seeing that our economy has reached the fifth position," Athawale said.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday slammed Sitharaman's address in Parliament, saying she's "living on a different planet" for claiming there's no rise in unemployment or prices.
"I don't know which planet she is living in. She is saying there is no inflation, there is no rise in unemployment, there is no rise in prices," the Wayanad MP told reporters as they left the Parliament after the house proceedings concluded.
Sitharaman in her speech in the Rajya Sabha highlighted the budget's focus on transforming India into a "Viksit Bharat" by 2047, with emphasis on sectors like agriculture, MSMEs, and rural development.
Earlier in her address, Sitharaman highlighted the main goal of the budget, that of rolling out a "futuristic path for transforming India into a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047."
FM Sitharaman mentioned that indirect tax under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has significantly reduced over the years since its implementation. She stated that the average tax under the previous indirect tax regime was 15.8 per cent, under GST it has now come down to 11.3 per cent.
Responding to a question raised by Nadimul Haque, a Member of Parliament from the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) representing West Bengal, Sitharaman highlighted the reduction in GST rates over time.
"Earlier the tax levied on everyday item 15.8 per cent tax could have been levied without additionally burdening the buyer, consumer. If that was the rate at which the GST rates were brought in, today... the rate has come down to 11.3 per cent. That is the level of reduction of rates which have happened in the GST Council," she said. (ANI)