RJD slams Bihar budget as "anti-poor"

Patna, Feb 25 (PTI) The opposition RJD today debunkedthe NDA government''s state budget for 2011-12 as "anti-poor"and "anti-minorities" and said that various proposals in thebudgetary proposals were mere bundles of promises that wereunlikely to be fulfilled.

The state''s annual budget for 2011-12 appears to be''hopeless'', ''directionless'' and aimed at fuelling inflationand price rise, the leader of opposition and senior RJD leaderAbdul Bari Siddique said in a statement here.

Describing the budget as "anti-minorities", he said thatthe state government has provisioned only Rs 90 crore out ofthe state plan size of Rs 24,000 crore to the minority welfaredepartment even as the agriculture - core of the state''seconomy - has been allotted only Rs 848 crore, amounting toonly 35 per cent of the state plan.

The budget also reflected that the state''s internalrevenue has not increased significantly despite tall claimsbeing made about the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and hisdeputy Sushil Kumar Modi about the growth in the state''srevenue over the years, Siddique said.

Only Rs 15,567 crore of Rs 65,312-crore budget comes fromthe state''s own revenue and the rest from the Centre, the RJDleader said, adding that it proved that the state was heavilydependent on the Centre or borrowings from various financialinstruments even now.

Siddique further alleged that the state''s non-planexpenditure has increased alarmingly and a significantcomponent on the budget was bound to be spent onnon-productive things.

Debunking the NDA government''s claim of over 10 percent annual growth of its economic in recent years, the RJDleader claimed that on the contrary the growth rate wasnegative at -6.63 per cent going by the state government''slack of focus on core sector of development which affected thecommon man.