Nirmala Sitharaman to Opposition on Budget bias charge: ‘26 states not named in 2009…’

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday rejected the opposition’s allegations of opposition-ruled states being ignored in the Union Budget 2024 presented by her in Parliament on July 23.

Replying to the budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, the minister asserted that no state was denied funds. She recalled that in the past Budgets by the UPA government also did not mention names of all states in their Budget speech.

“I have been picking up on Budget speeches since 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and so on. The Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 states. I would like to ask the members of the UPA government at that time – did money not go to those 17 states? Did they stop it?” PTI quoted Sitharaman as saying.

“In the 2005-06 budget, 18 states were not named. 13 states were not named in 2006-07, 16 states were not named in 2007-08. Did money not go to them? In 2008-09, 13 states were not named. In 2009-10, 26 states were not named,” the minister said.

The opposition had slammed the Union budget over the announcements for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the states ruled by key National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party respectively.

Sitharaman slams UPA over jobs

During her address, the finance minister cited a SBI research report that stated about India creating 12.5 crore jobs between 2014 and 2023.

“SBI research report which was released in July 2024 said India created 12.5 crore jobs between 2014 and 2023 compared to only 2.9 crore during the 10 years of the UPA Govt…The unemployment rate has declined from 6% in 2017-18 to a low of 3.2% in 2022-23. Youth unemployment for the age group 15-29 years has declined sharply from 17.8% in 2017-18 to 10% in 2022-23,” ANI quoted the minister as saying.

Sitharaman also said that the allocation of budget for various social schemes increased as compared to last year’s budget and has also grown compared to 2013-14.

According to the minister,t the agriculture and allied sector allocation was ₹30,000 crore in 2013-14, whereas now it is ₹1.52 lakh crore. It is ₹8,000 crore more than last year.