PANAJI
Goa TMC reacted sharply to the Union budget 2022 made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday. Goa TMC Vice-President and senior equity researcher, Rajendra Kakodkar raised some sharp questions in this regard, noting that, “Narendra Modi promised us ‘Acche Din’ almost eight years ago, but ‘Acche Din’ today exist only for about 100 corporates and a handful of rich people! The Oxfam Report clearly states that during Covid, while the rich more than doubled their wealth, the poor only grew poorer. Similarly, the middle class lost all their savings and the youth lost jobs. Migrant workers had to walk for miles because the PM implemented a lockdown almost overnight and failed to even provide transportation. So, I really don’t know where are ‘Achhe Din’?”
Adding to this, Kakodkar asserted, ‘When we see this budget we’ve to see this in the context of living through Covid times - between January and March 2020 our GDP dipped by around 3%, the next fiscal year we lost another 7.3% of the GDP, so in the third year how are we expected to gain 9.2% ?’
Kakodkar concluded with a series of questions for the Centre, ‘The Government is saying that Sensex has increased, why then has the agricultural GDP not increased? Where is the Sensex of agriculture, farmers’ well-being, youth employment, MSME, and most importantly where is the Sensex of the middle class and poor? Does this government only cater to the rich?’
Further, he said, ‘There has been an 85% reduction in household income as far as financial security is concerned. How does the government plan to recover this? The BJP Government is merely looking out for the interests of the bigger business houses and doesn’t care a damn about the poor or the middle class. It seems like all policy is meant to benefit the classic 1%, while sacrificing the needs of the 99%. This is the same government which increased taxes for the diesel of the buses and rickshaws, while decreasing the taxes for aviation fuel. This is not a double-engine government, this is a double-engine disaster!’
