Union Budget: NC satisfied; Congress, PC, CPI(M) express dissatisfaction

Srinagar, Feb 01: The ruling National Conference on Saturday expressed satisfaction over some of the announcements made in the Union Budget 2025 while the other parties including Congress, Peoples Conference and CPI (M) criticised the financial plan.

NC Spokesman and MLA Zadibal, Tanvir Sadiq while speaking to the media persons here said that some of the reforms in the Budget were positive.

However, he said that Jammu and Kashmir should be included in the 50 new tourist destinations and medical tourism. ‘We are expecting J&K to be included in it,” he said.

Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Chief Tariq Hameed Karra said it has ignored the genuine case of youth of J&K for special attention.

“The union budget has ignored J&K in terms of the special focus needed here to give relief to worst suffering people especially the youth in special circumstances prevailing in this border region and rather the budget focussed more on Bihar & Delhi for political considerations,” he said.

In his stinging remarks on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over Jammu & Kashmir’s allocation, Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone said that it is time for him to seek the return of shawls gifted by him to Union Ministers and revise his cloudless weather commentary made at Sonamarg in Ganderbal district.

In a post on X, Lone, as per the Kashmir News Observer (KNO), pointed out that there has been a reduction in J&K’s allocation in the Union Budget. “The proposed allocation to J&K in the Union Budget is approximately 41,000 crores. It is approximately 1,000 crore less than the previous allocation. When adjusted for inflation, it is reduced by another 2,000 to 3,000 crores,” he said.

The CPI (M) said that the Union Budget 2025-26 is a “cruel betrayal” of the requirements of the people of India. “Instead of addressing the root cause of the demand problem being faced by so many sectors of the economy, the lack of purchasing power in the hands of large sections of the population because of mass unemployment and shrinking wages, the Modi government through the budget is seeking to stimulate the economy by giving tax cuts to the small minority with higher incomes even as expenditures are cut.”

“While the Economic Survey shows the desperate plight of India’s labour force, pointing out the decrease in earnings over the last five years, this budget with its emphasis on cutting government expenditures while giving concessions to the rich will only increase the huge inequalities in India. Instead of mobilizing resources by taxing the rich and the big corporate houses and pushing up public investment that would help generate employment and ensure a minimum wage for our people, it has chosen to do the opposite,” the statement added.—(KNO)