Govt diluting people-oriented programmes: Oppn

The Opposition on Wednesday attacked the government in the Lok Sabha for diluting or doing away with people-oriented programmes and policies such as the rights to information, food and work, and reducing allocations on them.

They also accused the government of having no roadmap for bringing in the GST Bill, recovering the mounting bad loans or expanding the tax base by bringing rich farmers under the tax net and said the nation now wanted “a full-time Finance Minister and not a multi-tasking” one.

“I think the time has come that the nation wants a full-time Finance Minister and not a multi-tasking one ... You need to take reform measures to boost growth,” senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said, while initiating the debate on the Finance Bill 2016.

Referring to measures such as Right to Information, Right to Food and Right to Work taken by the UPA I and II governments, he said the previous government has not given any bad legacy. “You (NDA government) say you got bad legacy. You are going to sink, if you demolish these people-oriented programmes,” he added.

TMC members attacked the Cente on issues like jewellers’ strike, EPF and pension and said it had lost a chance to expand the tax base by including rich farmers, while BJD too flayed the government.