Union budget addresses deep reforms necessary to take Bharat forward: Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda

While participating in the debate on the Union Budget 2024-25, Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda on Thursday said that one of the most impressive parts of the PM Narendra Modi government, especially in the last 5 years, is how the fiscal deficit has been managed despite high allocations.

Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda said, “I compliment FM Nirmala Sitharaman for the historic budget. It is historic as it is not only her seventh successive budget but the first one in the historic third term headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

Panda further said that when PM Modi formed his first government 10 years ago, he inherited a huge backlog of undone reforms from the previous government, be it GST or bankruptcy code.

“The 2024 budget is wide in its scope but also very deep in addressing the reforms that are necessary to take Bharat forward. During the second Modi government, FM consolidated the deep fiscal reforms that were initiated by late Arun Jaitley. Similarly, India consistently remained the fastest growing economy in the world during the subsequent budgets,” said Panda.

Addressing the concerns and questions about how being the fastest-growing economy helps the average Bharatiya, Panda said that this growth has enabled massive increases in allocations and massive improvements in outputs and results that have been demonstrated in the last 10 years.

Quoting several reports, the Kendrapara MP highlighted that exports have reached a record high, the unemployment rate has dropped to a record low of 3.1 per cent, and business and job creation are at an 18-year high, reflecting a robust economy.

According to Panda, 89 million jobs have been created in the manufacturing and service sector in the last 10 years. Economic Survey pointed out that the percentage of youths, who are deemed employable, has improved from 34 percent to 51 percent in the last decade.

“The most impressive part of the PM Modi government, especially in the last 5 years, is how the fiscal deficit has been managed despite the high allocations. The fiscal deficit which was inherited 10 years ago at 4.5 percent was continually brought down in Modi Ji’s first government until it reached 3.4 percent. Then the entire world turned upside down during the Covid pandemic and India managed far better than other countries,” said Panda.

The Kendrapara MP further stated that India’s Gini index compares more favourably than highly developed countries which have been allocating huge sums to welfare like USA and the UK. Be it the PM Awas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission or the Ayushman Bharat Schemes, these schemes are having direct impact on the lives of millions of people.

Jay Panda Targets UPA Neglect To Odisha

On Purvodaya, Panda said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has categorically stated that unless the previously neglected regions get developed, Bharat is not going to become developed. It is for this reason that Modi Ji has visited the northeast a record number of times than his predecessors.

“The East has been traditionally neglected by the Centre. Within the east, there was discrimination between one state and the other despite ministers from those states having a role in Delhi. Twenty years ago when I first spoke on the budget, I found that West Bengal had the country’s highest rail track density, 42 kms per square kilometre. In Odisha, it was the lowest in the country at 14 km per square kilometre. Every year, we used to appeal to the Centre for more allocations. In the first Modi budget, allocations went straight up by five times to Rs 5000 crore. Then we did not have a Railway minister from Odisha. This year, I thank the Railway minister for the allocation of Rs 10,500 crore for Odisha. This will go a long way to bring Odisha up to the national average and beyond. When we talk of Purvodaya, even West Bengal is included,” said Panda.

Panda further informed that the long-awaited coastal highway project which is going to the DPR stage is moving forward and this will bring a total transformation for Odisha.