New Delhi, February 1: With the Union Minister Piyush Goyal tabled Interim Budget 2019 in the joint session of Parliament on Friday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi slammed the BJP-led central government, accusing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of insulting the farmers of the country by giving them Rs 17 a day.

Accusing the Union government, while reacting on the Interim Budget tabled in the Parliament, He took to Twitter and wrote, “Dear NoMo, 5 years of your incompetence and arrogance has destroyed the lives of our farmers. Giving them Rs. 17 a day is an insult to everything they stand and work for. #AakhriJumlaBudget.” Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Announced in Budget 2019: Rs 6,000 Per Year to be Given as Minimum Income Support To Farmers In Bank Accounts. 

Not only this, the former Union Finance minister P Chidambaram too criticised the government stating that the budget is not a vote on the account but an account for votes. Addressing a press conference in the national capital after the Budget Session, Chidambaram said, “The Interim Finance Minister tested our patience by the longest interim budget speech in the recent memory. It was not an interim budget, it was a full-fledged budget accompanied by an election campaign speech.”

Earlier, while tabling the Interim Budget before the Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister Goyal announced that the Central Cabinet had approved a financial help of Rs 6,000 for each farmer per year, who has a landholding less than two hectares. This amount will be credited to 12 crore small and marginal farmers’ bank accounts through direct benefit transfer.

Along with this, the Union Minister said, while speaking on the farm loan waivers, “Instead of rescheduling of crop loans, the farmers severely affected by natural calamities will get 2% interest subvention and additional 3% interest subvention upon timely repayment.” Adding more, he said, “Almost Rs 3 lakh crore of bad debts recovered.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2019 03:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).