The common people find very little to cheer up after the presentation of the Union Budget-2022 in Parliament on Tuesday. They feel their problems have been largely ignored in a budget which has no big ticket announcement. However, some people appreciated the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s efforts to take care of issues like mental health care and infrastructure development to spur economic growth. The Statesman’s Senior Reporter Syed Hashim Najmi talked to some of these people to know their views with regard to the Union Budget. Here are the excepts:
Yagya Kumar, who works in a private construction company, said, “I do not see anything significant in the Budget-2022 for the middle class and salaried people. There is no change on the income tax front, though people like me expected some kind of jugglery to help the salaried classes. I am on leave today and have been away from my house for a few hours, but I have tried to update myself through listening to some TV channels on my mobile. I do not see any effort to generate jobs on a large scale which is the most difficult thing to find during these pandemic days.”
Mohammed Nayeem, who runs a medical store, appreciated the budget for highlighting the mental health issue. He said, “Since I belong to the health care field, I can understand the importance of the government’s efforts for taking care of people’s mental health-related issues. It is good that the Finance Minister announced in the course of her speech that the government has decided to launch a National Tele-Mental Health Programme to ensure that anyone suffering from mental problems can get quality counselling and proper treatment. Many people are now suffering from mental health problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Kamalpreet Gill, a housewife, said, “I expected the Union Budget to lead to a fall in the prices of items of daily use. As far as I can understand, there is nothing in the budget which addresses the aspirations of a housewife like me. It appears to me that fruit and vegetable prices are not going to come down. Our health care expenditure has gone up. We have to spend more on giving our children quality education so that they find it easier to get jobs. But this budget is not going to help reduce my family spending.”
Raghubir Singh, a hawker who sells vegetables, said, “I cannot hope that the government’s Budget will change my condition. I have heard that nothing has been done to reduce the prices of medicines and charges demanded by private hospitals. This is very disappointing for people like me.”
Raman Singh, a young man, who has done MBA but remains unemployed, expressed the view that the Budget this year “should have been fully focused on creating employment opportunities on a large scale. There are no such schemes in the new Budget. A person like me is bound to get disappointed if the government does not give attention to the problem of job creation as much as it deserves.”
Mohammed Faheem, who owns a fitness centre, said, “My worry is that the government does not appear to be interested in promoting the services sector, one of the biggest employment-providing areas in the country. Gym owners are among the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and here is a government that keeps quiet on our plight. It should have taken some steps to help us in whatever way it could.”