Union Budget 2019: Unusually opaque and insipid, says P Chidambaram

Chidambaram said last year the government lost revenue of Rs 1.6 trillion

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram termed the Budget “insipid”, and the Finance Minister's speech “unusually opaque” as it did not disclose the total revenue, the total expenditure, the fiscal deficit, the revenue deficit, the additional revenue mobilisation or the financial concessions. 

He said rarely in the past a Budget speech did not disclose the allocations to important programmes such as MGNREGA, mid-day meal scheme, health care, and to vulnerable sections. “We are shocked by this departure,” he said. 

Chidambaram, a former Union finance minister, said the Budget had taken the protectionist route to increase customs duties on a large number of goods,