The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, and his senior colleague Arjun Modhwadia said that for the first time in the history of the country, the Congress-led UPA government had announced the waiver of farmers’ debt to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore. They said this would not only make about four crore farmers debt free, but also encourage them to contribute more to the development of the farm sector.

“A budget where more funds are allocated for the social sector is considered as an ideal one. In the Union Budget for 2008-09, the UPA government has done this with the provision of a whopping Rs 11,400 crore made for the welfare of the women, and another Rs 16,000 crore allocated for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme. Till now only a few of the districts in Gujarat and other states were covered under this scheme. But, now the Centre has decided to cover all districts under it,” said Gohil.

He said the “people-centric” budget has also taken care of almost all sections of society. Funds to the tune of Rs 3,966 crore have been allocated for the welfare of the SC/ST people, while another Rs 33,434 crore has been provided for the welfare of children. Besides, the UPA regime has made a sincere attempt to further improve the economic status and work proficiency of Central as well as state government employees by announcing that the Sixth Pay Commission’s report will be presented before March this year, he said.