New Delhi: Left parties on Friday blamed the Government for not announcing any measures to check price rise or strengthen food security, but said some of their concerns and UPA's commitments have been addressed though not fully met.
"The budget contains nothing at all to contain inflation.... This is the most burning issue today which has been completely neglected. Neither has anything been done to strengthen the public distribution system," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters.
On the debt relief measures announced in the budget, he said no budgetary provision has been made for this purpose.
"Probably, the government will issue bonds to the banks which waive the loans, but their health will also have to be taken care of. Though loan waivers was a welcome measure, this would affect only one-third of farmers who have taken loans from national banks, cooperatives or other government institutions," he said.
Majority of the peasantry, who were dependent on private money lenders, sahukars and mahajans, would remain out of the purview of this measure, he said, adding that most of the farmers' suicides were being reported from this section only.
Though expenditure on education, healthcare and other social sectors have been increased, these fall far short of what was required or promised in the Common Minimum Programme, he said.
Terming the exercise as an "election stunt", CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said "the only thing the Finance Minister did not announce was the election date."
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