Kolkata, March 3 (IANS) The secrecy surrounding the annual union budget needs to be broken to facilitate better participation both from the industry as well as individuals, senior BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha said here on Tuesday.
"The secrecy around the budget needs to be broken... If the secrecy wasn't there, the government would have got more suggestions when formulating the Rs.20,000 crore Mudra Bank," he said at an event organised by the Merchant Chamber of Commerce here.
He said the government is unnecessarily shrouding the budget proposals in secrecy before the presentation of the budget.
"There's nothing on expenditure or income side which calls for secrecy," he said.
The former finance minister who had also headed the external affairs ministry during the NDA 1 rule compared the present scenario with a ship waiting to unload its cargo fearing a tax hike.
"We are living in an age when a ship stays at high seas before the budget announcement to unload its cargo at port awaiting taxation changes," he said.
Sinha said the budget is only a representation of the annual income and expenditure of the government and its projected income for the coming fiscal year where some 'Constitutional Provisions' also entail the finance minister to propose some changes in the government's revenue functionaries.
The former Hazaribagh-elected member of parliament said the major areas of concern are its arithmetic tally to balance revenue and expenditure, scope for growth, livelihood issues of people, the quality of life it brings in and the question of equity to balance geographies, economic classes and gender.
He said the budget size for 2015-16 is Rs.18 lakh crore.
Maharashtra: Opposition took a jibe at the CM's name not being finalized even after 11 days, said- a game of cat and mouse is going on
Mahayuti got a great victory in the Maharashtra assembly elections. However, even after more than a week of the results, it has not been decided who will be the Chief Minister of the state. There is a
'I had talked to PM Modi about Sheikh Hasina', Mohammad Yunus made a big claim; told what answer he got.
Bangladesh interim government chief Mohammad Yunus is very angry about the online speech being given by Sheikh Hasina from India. Sheikh Hasina is constantly bringing the failures of the Yunus
Rahul Gandhi: Controversy over Rahul Gandhi's visit to Vietnam, BJP called it an insult to late former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
The war of words between BJP and Congress, which began after the death of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, continued on Monday as well. BJP termed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Vietnam visit
Sonakshi Sinha: 'Dahad' fame Sonakshi Sinha reveals why she did supporting roles at the beginning of her career.
Sonakshi Sinha started her career in Bollywood in the year 2010 with Salman Khan\'s film Dabangg. Although in the early days of his career, he chose male-oriented films, in which the role of women was
Assembly elections 2022: Why are Congress and other opposition parties behind BJP in digital campaigning?
In February, elections are going to be held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur. On the other hand, amid the third wave of the corona epidemic in the country, there is a great
Corona Vaccination: Who will get 45 cross corona vaccine from March 1, know everything in detail
The central government has announced to start a campaign to apply corona vaccine to people above 60 years of age from 1 March. Along with this, vaccines will also be applied to those who are 45 years
Covid-19: What was feared happened, more than 10 thousand deaths occurred worldwide due to Corona in December, this is the main reason
Cases of coronavirus infection are being seen increasing rapidly globally, especially due to the new variant of Corona JN.1, there are reports of the situation worsening in many countries. Another
Telangana: Government's decision- Muslim employees will be able to take a leave one hour earlier during Ramzan, BJP opposed
The Telangana government made a big decision given the month of Ramadan. Under this, a special exemption has been given to all Muslim government employees, teachers, contract employees, outsourcing,
Cemeteries submerged in Pakistan due to floods: Difficult to find burial place, people performing last rites in hills
This year floods and landslides have caused great destruction in Pakistan. In the remaining graveyard of the village, Ali Akbar is searching for solid ground between the marshy land and the green
Petrol Diesel Price: Petrol-Diesel became cheaper in UP-Bihar, know the prices of other cities including Delhi
In the global market, there has been a big fall in the prices of crude oil during the last 24 hours. Its effect is also visible in the retail prices of petrol and diesel in the domestic market.