Congress MP Anand Sharma on Wednesday accused the central government of cheating the farmers of the country by allocating just a fraction of the budget to agriculture as compared to what it promised in its election manifesto.
"BJP said in its manifesto that it will invest Rs 25 lakh crores in agriculture in five years, that means Rs 5 lakh crores each year. But only Rs 53,000 crores was allocated in the budget. The question is of credibility. Farmers must trust what the government says will happen," Sharma said in the Rajya Sabha.
The Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha further said that the present condition of India's economy was "frightening" and claimed that the gap between the rich and the poor was widening at an alarming pace.
"The widening gap between the rich and the poor is frightening. In the last five years, 1 per cent of rich in the country, their share in national wealth has gone up from 40 to 60 per cent. Today, 10 per cent of the rich have four times the share of wealth than the rest 90 per cent population of India," Sharma said.
Talking about the economy, he added, "The situation which we are witnessing today cannot be called cyclical, structural or linked to the global developments. We are staring at a crisis which is India specific."
Earlier today, the Opposition parties had given a notice in Rajya Sabha to hold a debate on "the economic situation in the country".
Among those MPs who were slated to speak on the short duration discussion notice in the Upper House apart from Sharma were TMC's Derek O'Brien, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, Vaiko, Kapil Sibal, Majeed Memon, Sasmit Patra, Binoy Viswam among others.
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