Opposition leaders come down heavily on budget
KATHMANDU, July 15: Opposition parties have blamed Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat of promoting feudal class through the budget by neglecting small and medium entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the budget discussion in the parliament on Tuesday, former Prime Minister and UCPN (Maoist) leader Babu Ram Bhattarai said the finance minister was guided by the neo liberal thought of Milton Friedman which advocates for uncontrolled free market economy and motivate only large scale investments.
“The finance minister announced second tier economic reforms on the influence of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) like he did in the 1990s,” said Bhattarai.
Saying that small and medium entrepreneurs should be motivated to achieve sustainable economic growth, Bhattarai requested Mahat to study economic and development thoughts of Amartya Sen and Jeffrey Sachs instead.
Bhattarai said Mahat played with the sentiments of small farmers by announcing interest rate subsidy on 10 hectares of farming land in hills and 20 hectares in Tarai. “It is very difficult to arrange 10 hectares of land for farming purpose in the hills,” Bhattarai said, adding, “The budget totally neglected employment generating programs. It will neither achieve growth targets, nor promote social justice.”
Bhattarai also said Mahat was taking revenge against him by discontinuing programs initiated during his tenure like Youth Self Employment Program, Fair Price Shops, Far-western and Karnali Development Commission and Policy Research Academy. Though Mahat failed to launch new programs, Bhattarai said he succeeded in discontinuing popular programs initiated by the previous governments.
“The budget will not kick-start the economy. You might get kickbacks, but the country will go 20 year backwards,” he told Mahat.
Similarly, President of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (RPPN) Kamal Thapa said the budget has failed to diagnose structural problems of the economy because of half-hearted and split mentality of the finance minister. “The finance minister looks confused. He is not clear whether to go for liberal economy or the state-controlled one,” Thapa said, questioning, “If we believe in full-fledged democracy, what is stopping us from accepting full-fledged liberal economy?”
Saying that budget allocation for election constituency development program was a grave mistake, Thapa said it would only check the pace of development.
Jitendra Narayan Dev of Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (Democratic) said the new budget ignores Tarai. “I would like to ask the finance minister why the postal highway project has not been completed yet,” he added.
However, parliamentarians from the ruling parties defended the budget. Nepali Congress (NC) Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel hailed the budget for incorporating different programs for the agricultural sector. “We need agro-based industries for proper utilization of farm products. Farm mechanization will bring about revolution in the agriculture sector,” added Poudel.
Likewise, former finance minister and UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari appreciated the commitment to bring about legal reforms to attract new investments.
Similarly, Gagan Thapa of NC termed comments made by opposition parties as ritualistic. He also urged former PM Bhattarai to recall programs initiated by his government.
Parliamentarian Amaresh Kumar Singh also criticized the finance minister for neglecting Tarai in the budget. He also alleged that Mahat was influenced by World Bank while formulating economic policies.
Source: Republica
