I had spent 150 minutes with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in a pre-Budget consultation meeting. After seeing his Budget, I feel I had wasted my time. This Budget seems to me a mere extension of his Interim Budget, with no bold steps.
There was a need to make special provisions for the “minor forest produce” in the NREGA expansion programme. I had requested him to provide jobs for 150 days for tribals as they are the section mostly involved in minor forest produce. Although the NREGA has been expanded, the UPA has completely ignored this vital area. If the government can increase the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat and paddy, why can’t it hike the MSP for minor forest produce?
We also need to see which areas get enhanced allocations under the internal security expenses.
We need to modernise our police system under an integrated approach. The Centre lacks policy in this direction.