Union Budget was tabled in parliament on 1st February 2022. The opposition leaders raised concerns regarding the ‘digital Bahi Khata.’ The concern was voiced during the Business Advisory Committee meeting chaired by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Monday.
The opposition registered their objection to a ‘paperless’ digital union budget and economic survey (which was presented in parliament yesterday). They said, ‘it would be impossible to download every document from the internet, read it and process it in time for reactions.’
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury floor leader of the Lok Sabha for the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay from the TMC, Vinayak Raut from Shiv Sena, and Supriya Sule of NCP were some of the leaders who made these objections.
While talking with ANI Vinayak Raut said, “Our concern is very genuine and we have requested the Speaker to intervene so we will hope that at least the part one speech of the finance minister is given to us in a physical copy.”
On the other hand, explaining the digital challenges Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, “We have raised a very important issue because it is not practically possible to download everything from the website, etc. Speaker has stepped in so we will have to see what the government does.”
Since last year the Modi government switched from traditional paper Bahi Khata to digital Bahi Khata which is presented via ‘Union Budget Mobile App.’ The App is available in bilingual, both Hindi and English, for MPs and citizens to access the budget in real-time without any hassle.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi told the opposition in the same meeting, that he would take note of their concerns. “Although the people’s budget and the survey was a huge boost to promote contactless documentation,”- he said.
Yesterday after the Economic Survey was tabled in Parliament, promising claims were presented by the government. From GDP growth at 9.2 per cent in 2021-22 to all macro indicators indicating that the economy was well placed to face challenges.
However, the Opposition parties accused the government of making false claims through this Economic Survey. The CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury called the Survey to be a ‘lie’.
Even the Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the government by saying they are being ‘unempathetic towards poor of this country by flaunting the Economic Survey’s tax collection data.’
