National

Goyal to present interim Budget 2019-20 on February 1

Piyush Global

New Delhi | Keeping up with the tradition, the Narendra Modi-led government ahead of the general election will present an interim Budget on February 1, which is widely expected to contain certain sops for farmers and middle class.

The last Budget of the present NDA government is likely to be presented by interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha.

Confusion was created after the commerce ministry on Wednesday in a message to media said, “Do not refer Budget 2019-20 as interim Budget, it is officially referred to as general Budget 2019-20”.

However, the Finance Ministry later clarified that the Budget will be called interim Budget 2019-20.

There were confusion in political circle that the government may deviate from the practice of presenting interim Budget and come up with full Budget ahead of the general elections.

To this principal opposition party Congress had said it will strongly oppose both inside and outside Parliament the presentation of a “full budget” by the BJP-led NDA government as it has “no electoral legitimacy” and the step will go against set precedents and Parliamentary traditions.

Last week, Railway Minister Goyal was given additional charge of the Finance Ministry as Arun Jaitley has gone to the US for treatment.

Jaitley as the Finance Minister has presented five Budgets.

As per practice, a Vote-on-Account or approval for essential government spending for a limited period is taken in an election year and a full-fledged budget presented by the new government.

While P Chidambaram had presented the previous UPA government’s Vote-on-Account in February 2014, Jaitley presented a full budget in July that year. Narendra Modi-led government scrapped a colonial-era tradition of presenting the Budget at the end of February.

Dear Readers,
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
Some error occurred

Related posts

Politics

98 Christians reconverted to Hinduism by force, claims CPI(M)

TestHostEntry

Agartala | Opposition CPI(M) on Tuesday accused the Hindu Jagaran Mancha, a right wing group, of forcibly reconverting 98 people belonging to 23 tribal families to Hinduism earlier this month by making a threat that it can put them behind bars.

The Mancha, however, denied the allegation.

These 98 people, mostly tea garden workers hailing from Bihar and Jharkhand, live at Ranchi Tilla in Unakoti district, about 190 km from here.

The Mancha had said these people had been lured into Christianity in 2010 after the tea garden they had been working was closed down.

Jiten Chowdhury, president of Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, CPI(M)’s tribal wing, said he visited Ranchi Tilla on January 25 to find out the truth behind the reconversion.

“I found out that the Hindu Jagaran Mancha has forced them to be reconverted to Hinduism. They said they were Christians earlier and were very happy,” Chowdhury told reporters here.

A general diary has been registered with Kailashahar police station on December 23 stating that someone had lost his livestock, he said adding that four members of these people were arrested in this connection but later got bail.

“The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Hindu Jagaran Mancha took this opportunity. They threatened them to put them behind bars and forced them to be reconverted to Hinduism,” Chowdhury alleged.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was also associated with the reconversion programme that took place at Kailashahar district on January 20.

“They (the reconverted people) were very disappointed by the incident. A fear psychosis prevails there. Many of the villagers broke into tears before me,” Chowdhury said.

When contacted, Hind Jagaran Mancha state unit president Uttam De said, “There was no question of applying force. They reconverted voluntarily. You can visit the place yourself to find out the truth.”

De said they have asked the government to launch schemes in the area for the upliftment of their socio-economic conditions.

After announcing their reconversion on January 21, De had said, “This is like a return of lost family members to their own home.”

Most of the converted persons belong to Orao and Munda tribal communities, he had said.

Related posts

News Hub