HYDERABAD: Communist Party of India opined that the budget presented in the Parliament on Wednesday by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram failed to reflect the UPA Government's Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

CPI secretary K. Narayana reacting to the budget said, the three per cent cess imposed a burden on education while concern was showered on the corporate sector by not imposing any fresh taxes.

The decision to extend the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) to only 330 districts had come as a disappointment. BJP president Bandaru Dattatreya termed the budget as `anti-farmer' and `anti-poor'. He said while the GDP showed 9.2 per cent, it was only 1.7 per cent for the farm sector.

There was no mention of programmes for farmers in debt traps and poor marketing facilities.

Lok Satta Party national coordinator Jayaprakash Narayan said the Finance Minister squandered a priceless opportunity to set a new direction and give a concrete shape to the vision of inclusive growth.

He said the action on agriculture is inadequate but focus on seeds, more credit and replenishing ground water reserves and improving water harvesting is welcome.

Share of agriculture

Former MP Y. Sivaji said the Finance Minister had done little to redress declining share of agriculture in GDP, capital formation, investment, per capita availability of good grains and employment generation.

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