Budget bypasses human development index

Puducherry, Mar 2 (UNI) President of the Pondicherry Panchayat Movement and Executive Director of the Indian Institute of Community Development V A Vasudevaraju today alleged that the Union Budget bypassed human developmnent.

In a statement here, he said to improve the present level of human development index, the budget allocation should be six per cent of the GDP for education and three per cent of the GDP for health.

However, the allocation in the budget was not even half of the requirement, he noted.

The budget was not concerned about improving the quality of life of the people, he said, adding, both the Prime Minsiter and Finance Minister were talking about high growth rate, but totally ignored the human development index.

He also said the waiver of agricultural loans to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore would not benefit the 42.3 per cent of the indebted farmers who had taken loan from private money lenders at an interest of more than 30 per cent.

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