Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday dubbed the union budget presented in parliament as disappointing which lacked vision and direction.
Kumar said that every year, the priorities of the budget changed and remained unfulfilled due to lack of focus and sufficient funds. Bihar was once again neglected and demand for special status for the state had been ignored, he added.
“The inclusive development of the country will remain a distant dream without the development of poor states like Bihar,” Chief Minister said, adding that Bihar had requested a special package of Rs 20,000 crores during the pre-budget meeting of state finance ministers which was ignored in the budget 2023-24.
” No attention has been paid to the financial condition of the states. There is no concrete roadmap of employment generation for the youth in the current budget. The borrowing limit of the states has not been increased despite a memorandum submitted to keep it at 4.5 per cent which would have led to employment generation and the development of the economically backward states”, Kumar said.
Chief Minister referring to seven priorities (Saptarishi) of the government in the budget, said that these were just the repackaging of ongoing central schemes. Bihar government had already been successfully implementing the new schemes under 7Nischay(resolves) since 2016 and 7- Nischay-II since 2021, he pointed out.
“Just following the pattern of 7- Nischay schemes of the Bihar government, they have announced seven priorities without adequate funding provisions. Overall, this budget has nothing substantial for the economic growth of Bihar”, Kumar pointed out.
