ON March 17, the fifth budget of the BJP_IPFT coalition government was placed in the assembly by the finance minister. The total budget proposal is Rs 26,892.67 crore with a deficit of Rs 569.52 crore. Eyeing on the assembly elections in February 2023 there was no proposal for new taxes.

The much tom-tommed campaign of implementing the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission was also missing in the budget speech. Likewise, there was no mention of regularisation of the part-time and DRW workers, recruitment of 50,000 people per year in the government departments, humanitarian solution of the crisis of 10,323 retrenched teachers, enhancement of MGNREGA wage to Rs340 per day etc.

The only sop proposed in the budget is to hike the social pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 and that too after removing about half a lakh beneficiaries from the list of various social pensions.

The opposition CPI(M) legislators moved 39 cut off motions and 15 additional allocation proposals. Initiating the discussion on the budget proposal, the leader of the opposition, Manik Sarkar pointed out the huge discrepancy in the opening balance of the budget figures. He said it should not be taken as a technical fault, as it may badly affect the entire budget in its implementation phase. He pointed out the erroneous figures of the state gross domestic product and said the rise of 13.28 per cent is overestimated.

Lashing out at the government for taking a market loan,  Manik Sarkar questioned, should we take a loan from the market only because it is available?  The current total debt of the government stands at Rs 10,340crore, which is about three times the debt during the Left Front government. He pointed out the spending of this loan amount. He said there is no reflection of this loan amount spending on developmental schemes except in spin and propaganda of the government.

Manik Sarkar anticipated an imminent crisis in the functioning of the government due to a serious shortage of staff in most of the departments. On average, about 4500 employees retire every year. In the last four years, nearly 20,000 employees have attained superannuation. In the budget proposal there is no mention of filling this gap through proper allocation, though the BJP’s ‘vision document’ had promised 50,000 recruitment in the first year of its tenure, Manik said.

Manik Sarkar scathingly criticised the government for its lenient attitude towards the social audit of MGNREGA funds in each block where huge amounts are reported to have been deviated. He also criticised the government’s initiative to privatise a selective number of schools for providing special education in the name of ‘vidya jyoti scheme’ and suggested immediate recruitment of teachers in the schools. He demanded enhancement of allocation in the health sector.   

On March 17, the speaker of the assembly admitted a private member’s resolution moved by the CPI(M) MLA, Mabaswar Ali and asked the mover of the resolution to initiate discussion. The resolution was: “The Tripura Vidhan Sabha requests the government to urgently initiate filling up the vacancies of posts in various levels in all the government departments.”A member of the treasury bench moved an amendment to this resolution. This amendment could not have been admitted as it negated the basic spirit of the original resolution.  As Mabaswar Ali stood up for discussion, minister Ratan Debnath started interfering with him and demanded that the mover of the amendment should discuss first violating the convention and conduct of business rule. Following high-pitched altercations with the treasury bench, the CPI(M) legislators staged a walkout. They met the press and criticised this move and said this was contempt of the speaker by the minister.

ANTI-MUSLIM TIRADE

On March 22, the BJP MLA Shambhu Lal Chakma while speaking in support of the budget proposal, most perversely spoke in contempt to the laid procedures. He said: “Madrasas of the state are not producing doctors or engineers. They are producing terrorists and anti-social elements. Requesting chief minister to shut down all the madrasas in the state”. Though the opposition CPI(M) MLAs vehemently criticised such an anti-Muslim statement, no member of the treasury bench opposed this statement which is detrimental to communal harmony and peace. Even the speaker did not expunge the statement of Chakma from the proceedings.   CPI(M) legislators condemned such unfounded allegations targeting religious minorities using the floor of the assembly.

On March 24, Manik Sarkar in a press meet in the assembly house, summed up the entire proceedings of this budget session. Terming the budget as totally anti-people, he said it has miserably failed to meet the aspirations of the down-trodden people, unemployed youth, middle-class employees, farmers and the daily wage earners. The budget does not give any assurance to contain price rise, restore rule of law replacing the ongoing jungleraj. The five-day budget passed as many as 10 bills without any discussion.