Aap Ki Adalat: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman praised the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department for unearthing huge amounts of black money during the raids, but clarified that her ministry never interfered in their functioning.
Answering Rajat Sharma’s questions ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show held during india tv budget conclave On Friday, Sitharaman said, “Look at the huge pile of currency notes seized by the ED. They looked like clothes dumped in bulk for the washing machine.” Mountain like cash miley hain (The seized cash looks like small hills).”
Rajat Sharma: But Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia says that he did not find anything from the locker or house?
Sitharaman: “Kuch Mila Nahi? (Nothing found?) ED, CBI IT, whenever they go out on raids, they take evidence with them. They ask about those evidence 10 times.”
Rajat Sharma: Have you ever asked ED about the raids?
Sitharaman: “Don’t ask at all. They are an independent organization. Why should I ask them? In the Modi government, we don’t give them instructions over phone.”
On West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s response that it was a directionless budget that she could prepare in 30 minutes, Sitharaman replied: “The budget is a serious document. The budget document is not for enthusiasm. In the budget, your passes.” You have to make a lot of effort. Politicians should do some homework before commenting.”
On Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram’s remark that the word ‘poverty’ was mentioned only twice in this year’s budget, Sitharaman said, “If I mention it a thousand times, will poverty end?” Will it happen? We are working on the ground.” Providing electricity, drinking water, toilets and LPG connections to the poor. There are two ways to deal with poverty. There is a right, about which the leaders speak, but nothing happens on the ground. The second is empowerment, which the Prime Minister stresses, so that the poor get their due.”
This time the funds for MGNREGA were reduced, Sitharaman said, because “it is a demand-based programme. Money is given when there is a demand. This time we are giving work to people under PM Awas Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission”. We have allocated Rs 79,000 crore for the PM Awas Yojana, so that people who are seasonally unemployed can work in these two programmes.
The Finance Minister agreed that the inflation was caused by “several external factors, due to which the import of fuel and fertilizer became costlier. Under the Prime Minister’s directions, the excise duty on fuel was reduced in November, 2021 and June, 2022, in order to reduce it.” burden on the people. Similarly, imported fertilizer which cost us Rs 1,800 per bag was being made available to farmers at only Rs 200 per bag. The Prime Minister wanted the government to share the entire burden.
The reasons behind the inflation were not in our hands. We gave some relief by reducing excise duty on fuel, but many state governments did not cooperate. Inflation remained in the range of 6 to 7 per cent, but has come down since October and November following measures by the RBI and the government. To curb the rising prices of flour, the Group of Ministers has decided to launch wheat from the buffer stock in the market.
Sitharaman targeted Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra by calling it ‘Bharat Todo Yatra’. He said, “All the allegations made by Rahul on Modi are baseless. He is trying to fool people by making false allegations. I am really sorry because India should have a responsible opposition. By making baseless allegations you are making a responsible opposition. Can’t happen. When GST was being finalised.” , Congress supported the move. Pranab Mukherjee was pressing for GST, but now when GST is being implemented, he (Rahul) is calling it Gabbar Singh tax.
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