Budget utterly disappointing: Nitish

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today described the Union Budget as "utterly disappointing" and said it did not say with "clarity" how much black money or fake currency was netted during the 50 days after demonetisation.
He also slammed the Centre for merging the Railway Budget with the General Budget, saying "The government has ruined the railway."
Kumar was particularly harsh on the NDA government for no mention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promises before the Bihar Assembly polls about a special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore, special status to the state and providing the remaining amount of Rs 6,200 crore under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF).

"I heard Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's nearly two-hour-long speech with the expectation that he would say something concrete on black money or assistance to Bihar, but nothing came...Though I respect Jaitley, I am compelled to say his speech today was boring and utterly disappointing," he told reporters.
Kumar, who broke ranks with his alliance partners, RJD and Congress, to support Centre's demonetisation, expressed disappointment also over Jaitley not making any reference to the outcome of the decision to scrap high-value bank notes.
"Those of us who supported demonetisation wish to know how much black money and fake currencies fell in the net during the 50-day drive," the JD(U) president said.

"Since there was no clarity on these issues, those who supported demonetisation are now left disappointed," he added.

On imposing surcharge on those having huge cash, Kumar said the process will take time.
"There is no mention of paying compensation to those who faced the immediate brunt of demonetisation. Many in the unorganised sector have lost jobs due to the step," he said.
"Instead of saying anything concrete on the outcome of demonetisation, emphasis has now been laid on cashless transactions as a part of diversionary tactics," he alleged.
"In a country like India, a complete cashless system is not possible as use of currency is part of the citizens' habit...You (Centre) chant lofty slogans about digital transactions, but no concern is seen to strengthen the infrastructure for it by increasing the number of bank branches at the grassroot-level," Kumar said.

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Kumar slammed the Centre for no reference in the budget to the special package of Rs 1.25 crore along with the Rs 40,000 crore left out amount of previous packages as was promised by the prime minister ahead of the 2015 Bihar Assembly election.
There was also no mention of the special status to Bihar and providing the Rs 6,200 crore left out amount as part of BRGF.
"This is injustice with Bihar," the chief minister said, adding that he was not impressed with the announcement of barring the political parties from accepting donations beyond Rs 2,000.

"Why Rs 2,000? The name of the person giving even Re 1 should be disclosed. I am in favour of total electoral reform which puts an end to the importance of cash in polls," he said and vouched for state funding of elections.
Continuing his attack, Kumar said, "You initiated the step (demonetisation) against black money, but it is surprising that you yourself do not know about its outcome as to how many high-value notes returned to the system or what amount of black money found its way back into the bank accounts.
"You took the first step against black money but there is no clarity on its outcome...People who supported the decision are badly disappointed...No concrete results will come against black money unless an immediate hit is made against benami properties."

Kumar cited instances to show how the budget had been "disappointing".
"There are talks of doubling the income of farmers in five years. But, what happened to the prime minister's pre-election promise of determining the MSP (minimum support price) after adding 50 per cent to the input cost? Not even a single step is visible towards this.
"There were talks of doing away with the agriculture board to open up the farm sector for agriculturists. But, what about a state like Bihar which has moved a step ahead in this regard, repealed the APMC Act and opened the market for agriculturists eight years ago?" he asked.

The JD(U) chief said a lot was said in the budget about raising fund allocation for Central schemes such as anganwadi and other social sector programmes.
"But, there is no mention on increasing the payment of anganwadi workers, cooks under the mid-day meal scheme and ASHA workers which they have been demanding for long."
On the promise made in the budget of 100 per cent village electrification by May 2018, Kumar said, "We have promised to provide free electricity connection to every household of Bihar by December end this year itself."
As regards the announcements made on the railways in the budget, Kumar, who was the railway minister in the AB Vajpayee-led NDA-I government, said, "They have ruined the railways. They have ended the autonomy of the railways which is the lifeline of the country. There is no clarity about the railways too in the budget.