Sitharaman Deceived Poor, Working Class, Migrants, Farmers: P Chidambaram on Budget 2021

New Delhi: Hours after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Budget 2021, Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the government has ‘deceived’ people, especially poor, working class, migrants and farmers. He also said that the Budget 2021 is a let-down like never before. Also Read – Mamata Banerjee Slams Modi Government’s Budget 2021, Calls It Anti-Farmer, Anti-People and Anti-Country

While the government has claimed a whopping increase of 137 per cent in health allocation in the budget, Chidambaram said that the figure was just a “conjurer’s trick”. Giving his calculations, the Congress leader said, the government had only marginally increased health funding, which when adjusted to inflation becomes nil. Also Read – FM Nirmala Sitharaman Cuts It Short This Year, Budget Speech Around 1 Hour & 50 Minutes

“The FM gave out a mind-boggling figure of Rs 2,23,846 crore for health, a breathtaking rise from the BE of the current year of Rs 94,452 crore. As I had warned, it was a conjurer’s trick,” he said. Also Read – Focus on Infrastructure, Boost to Healthcare Sector, Two Important Features of Budget 2021: FM

“Shorn of these add-ons, the allocations for health were Rs 72,934 in 2020-21 and Rs 79,602 crore in 2021-22. Given inflation, the increase is practically nil,” Chidambaram added.

Covid-19 pandemic-hit middle class families kept their eyes glued to their television screens as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget 2021-22 on Monday morning, but many said that they had expected more from the government.

The budget this year drew sharp criticism from many opposition leaders as the government provided no particular relief to middle class in terms of income tax exemption. However, in a major relief, senior citizens above 75 years of age are now exempted from filing tax returns. Moreover, the has emphasised more on healthcare, infrastructure and other sectors.

Besides this, taxpayers were definitely left disappointed as the Union Finance Minister did not announce any change in income tax slabs for them in the much-awaited Union Budget announced during an undeniably tough year.