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Congress leader and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday slammed Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's address in Parliament, saying she's "living on a different planet" for claiming there's no rise in unemployment or prices.
"I don't know which planet she is living in. She is saying there is no inflation, there is no rise in unemployment, there is no rise in prices," the Wayanad MP told reporters as they left the Parliament after the house proceedings concluded. Her remarks comes after Sitharaman's speech in the Rajya Sabha, where she highlighted the budget's focus on transforming India into a "Viksit Bharat" by 2047, with emphasis on sectors like agriculture, MSMEs, and rural development. The brother and sister, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi left the Parliament together for the day. Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will meet next on February 13 (Thursday), on the account of Guru Ravidas Jayanti being tomorrow. Earlier today, during her Rajya Sabha address, she highlighted the main goal of the budget, that of rolling out a "futuristic path for transforming India into a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047." With focus on "Garib, Youth, Annadata and Nari," the budget unveils new schemes and reforms in the sectors of agriculture, MSMEs, investments, exports, rural development, enabling employment, spurring domestic consumption and more. "The Union Budget seeks to astutely balance the nation's development priorities and fiscal imperatives. FM Sitharaman mentioned that indirect tax under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has significantly reduced over the years since its implementation. She stated that the average tax under the previous indirect tax regime was 15.8 per cent, under GST it has now come down to 11.3 per cent. Responding to a question raised by Nadimul Haque, a Member of Parliament from the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) representing West Bengal, Sitharaman highlighted the reduction in GST rates over time. "Earlier the tax levied on everyday item 15.8 per cent tax could have been levied without additionally burdening the buyer, consumer. If that was the rate at which the GST rates were brought in, today... the rate has come down to 11.3 per cent. That is the level of reduction of rates which have happened in the GST Council," she said. (ANI)
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