New Delhi: On Tuesday, members of opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha accused the government of not taking any concrete measures to address unemployment in the budget and demanded clarification on various claims made by the US side regarding the recent India-US trade agreement.
Participating in the discussion on the General Budget 2026-27 in the Upper House, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy of the Trinamool Congress cited the famous saying of the ancient Indian atheist philosopher Charvaka, “Yavat jeevate sukham jeevet, rinam kritva ghrita peebet (Live happily as long as you live, take loans and drink ghee)” and said that it appears that many in the government are following this policy.
He said that the government’s total borrowing, including foreign debt, has increased to ₹2.53 lakh crore, indicating their “Amritkaal” (nectar period). He said that the insurance sector has been opened to 100% foreign investment, jeopardizing the business of national insurance companies.
Rai said that while it is good that the government has decided to form a high-level committee to consider linking education with entrepreneurship, his experience has shown that in such matters, the results of committees or commissions are usually ineffective. He expressed concern over the delay in implementing many of the announcements made in the previous budget.
Trinamool member Rai was wearing his party’s turban while participating in the discussion, which Union Minister Prahlad Joshi objected to. Rai removed it upon Deputy Chairman Harivansh’s direction.
Referring to economic inequality in the country, he said that the top ten richest people in the country control 51% of the wealth. The Trinamool MP said that the India-US trade agreement is being trumpeted even though its full details have not yet been revealed. He said that US officials are claiming that India will stop importing oil from Russia and will source it from the US and Venezuela. He asked the government how much the cost would increase if this happens.
He said that the US says it will open India’s dairy and agricultural markets to them and has hinted that government subsidies to Indian farmers will be discontinued. He said that if this happens, it will have a devastating impact on India’s agricultural sector.
Rai said that last year, the US imposed a tariff of only 3.5 percent on exports from India, but now this rate has increased to 18 percent. So, where did India benefit?
The Trinamool MP said, “We have abandoned our eternal friend Russia and joined hands with the US, which has never stood by us and supports a troublesome country like Pakistan. This is completely contrary to our national interests.”
He said that the government should provide clarification regarding the India-US trade agreement. Participating in the discussion, Neeraj Dangi of the Congress party said that this budget is full of statistics, but it fails to bring any light to the lives of the common man. He said that this is the dullest budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the last nine years.
He said that the stock market plummeted 2,300 points immediately after the budget was presented, which shows the nature of this budget. He said that this budget has not met the expectations of investors, the market, or the common man.
Dangi said that the government is talking about 20 years from now, meaning that today’s problems will be solved in 20 years. He said that this budget is proving to be a game of youth versus promises.
He said that if the promise of creating 20 million jobs per year is not fulfilled, then who will trust the promise of creating new employment opportunities? He said that recruitment in government jobs has stalled, and contract and temporary recruitment is being done.
He said that this budget only provides speeches instead of providing employment to the youth. Participating in the discussion, DMK’s Kanimozhi NVM Somu said that this is another failed budget presented by the Finance Minister. She said that while the Finance Minister should be commended for maintaining consistency nine times in a row, this consistency represents nine years of failure, which may be good for her, her party, and Nagpur, but not for the country.
She said that in previous budgets, excerpts from the Tamil poem “Thirukkural” were often cited, which at least gave the people of her state the feeling that even if their state received nothing in the budget, their language was at least given a place in the budget. She said that this time the budget does not even make that symbolic acknowledgement.
The DMK member said that this budget is anti-poor and indifferent to the economic realities of the country. She said that this budget is faceless, baseless, and aimless. He said that this budget is not providing any relief to farmers, workers, salaried middle class or unemployed while it is continuously giving priority to the interests of big business groups.
