Congress Slams Interim Budget 2024-25; ‘It Has Undermined Federalism,’ Says Chidambaram

Congress attacked the national government, which is run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when the interim budget for 2024–25 was announced. They said that the administration has been undermining federalism in recent years. Former Finance Minister and senior Congressman P Chidambaram stated that although the Finance Minister talked about “minimum government” and “maximum governance,” in practice, “minimum government” has weakened federalism.

Read what the Congress said about budget

“The FM spoke about minimum government and maximum governance. The minimum government policy, in reality, has undermined federalism. Staffed state governments with funds and virtually reduced the third tier of governance, panchayats and municipalities, to cyphers. The overwhelming majority of people are dependent on the third tier of government for their services but that tier has been virtually deprived of human and financial resources,” Chidambaram said while addressing the media.

“Federalism has been considerably weakened by the central government,” he added.

The veteran Congress leader further said, “The FM did speak about the GDP, but she did not speak about per-capita income. She spoke about free grain for 80 crore people, but she did not speak about India’s rank in the global hunger index or widespread malnutrition among children.”

Furthermore, according to P Chidambaram, Sitharaman “barely” mentioned inflation. “She (FM Nirmala Sitharaman) barely referred to inflation, but she did not refer to the fact that food inflation is currently 7.7%. The real wages for casual workers have stagnated for four years and the fact that there is an increase in the proportion of workers dependent on agriculture,” he said.

“The boast about establishing numerous education institutions and aims like hospitals must be pitted against the fact that thousands of teaching posts are vacant in central universities and central government-established institutions. The new hospitals do not have sufficient nurses, doctors, supporting medical staff or equipment,” Chidambaram added.

Also Read: PM Modi Praises Interim Budget 2024: Promises Development and Opportunities for Young India

Expenditure on education and health

The Congress leader went on to say that the “boasts” could not be fulfilled with the meager funding allocated to the health and education sectors.

“The allocation in the 2024-25 budget for health is 1.8% and for education, it is 2.5% of total expenditure. None of the boasts can be accomplished with such low expenditure,” he said.

Finance Minister presented Interim Budget

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the Interim Budget 2024 earlier today, expressing optimism that the Central government’s hard work and sound policies will enable the BJP to win back power for a record third time.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, the Union Finance Minister said in her budget speech, “Our young country has high aspirations, pride in its present and hope and confidence for a bright future. We expect that our government, based on its stupendous work, will be blessed again by the people with a resounding mandate.”