By Raj Shekhar*  The Right to Food Campaign has expressed its deep disappointment that in the budget announcement for 2024-25 rather than enhancing spending in the critical area of food security, the budget has either remained stagnant or has declined. 

By PK Sreemathi, Mariam Dhawale* The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has expressed its disappointment with the 2024-25 budget placed before the parliament today. The NDA government’s first full post-poll budget shows that it is in complete denial of the social reality faced by women today. 

By Umesh Babu*  The Union budget of the year 2024-25 is Rs. 48,20,512 crore out of which only Rs. 1,65,493 crore (3.43%) against the due Rs 7,95,384 crore is allocated for Scheduled Caste and only Rs. 1,32,214 crore (2.74 %) for Scheduled Tribes against the due amount of Rs. 3,95,281 crore as per Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) of 1975 and 1979. The Union budget grossly failed to allocate the budget as per the policy and it shows that the Union government is totally against the due empowerment of SCs and STs.

By Bezwada Wilson*  The Union Budget for the year 2024-2025, placed by the Finance Minister in Parliament has completely deceived the Safai Karmachari community. There is no mention of persons engaged in manual scavenging in the entire Budget. Even the scheme meant for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers (SRMS) has been outrageously scrapped. 

By Kiran Vissa, Kavitha Kuruganti*   Calling out the continuously-lowered budgetary allocations for agriculture sector in the country by the Union government, and terming it as clearly anti-farmer, the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) network stated that the government has not obviously reformed its ways from the drubbing it received from rural voters in the recent general elections.  It also said that the lessons that the government ought to have picked up from the historic farmers’ movement and the commitments made to Samyukt Kisan Morcha are also being ignored. 

By Shankar Sharma*  National media houses have carried multiple headlines on the latest budgetary proposals for the energy sector.  They should indicate multiple concerns to the overall welfare of our people in the near term as well as in the long term: Union Budget 2024 | Govt to come out with document on energy transition pathway: Sitharaman Renewable power companies gain from pumped storage projects Push for research and development of new technology for nuclear energy in Budget 2024 Budget 2024: Nuclear energy to drive India’s Viksit Bharat's new power mix On an objective consideration of various statements in the budget speech, those of us who have been keen observers of the electricity/ energy sector, have to come to an unfortunate conclusion that the overall welfare of our country was not at the focus of those advisors, who might have persuaded you to  make budgetary provision for additional super critical thermal power plants, high voltage transmission lines, Pumped Storage

By NJ Thakuria*   After nearly two hundred people, mainly students, were killed by the government armed forces allegedly in liaison with the ruling party affiliates in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has blamed the opposition political leaders for the violence that erupted across the nation. She argued that the government in Dhaka was compelled to impose a strict curfew with an aim to maintain the law and order situation and it will be lifted as the situation improves.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak   On July 23, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget (2024-25) which highlights the priorities of Hindutva politics of economic growth sans human development. The Modi-led BJP government, along with its finance minister, continues to pursue failed and rejected neoliberal economic policies, including the reduction of corporate taxes, in an attempt to spur economic growth. 

By Gautam Mody*  Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the country on July 22 that the Union Budget for the ongoing financial year 2024-25 would lay the economic foundations for the next 5 years and the direction for the next 25, until we got to his goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’. Today’s Union Budget 2024-25 (BS) presented to parliament was so underwhelming that Modi felt the need to make a thirty-minute national broadcast, to explain to us what it was all about.