Social activists, farmers’ leaders, and business community leaders criticised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for making no announcement in the the Budget presented on Friday on withdrawal of Land Reforms Act and Cow Slaughter legislation enacted by previous BJP government.
Congress leader and MLA for Aland B.R. Patil expressed his discontentment as the Budget made no mention for withdrawal for the amendments made to Land Reforms Act. “I was at the forefront of the farmers’ struggle against the amendments and laws on land reforms. Mr. Siddaramaiah made it clear in the Budget that the APMC Act would be withdrawn and I welcome it. But, he said nothing on the anti-farmer amendments made to Land Reforms Act,” he told The Hindu.
K. Neela, district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), welcomed the Budget as the one focused on fulfilling the poll guarantees of Congress. She also appreciated the Chief Minister for his decision against the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 and the withdrawal of the APMC Act. However, she expressed discontentment for making no statement on the demand of withdrawing the Land Reform and the Cow Slaughter legislations.
Senior farmers’ leader and honorary president of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha Chamarasa Malipatil termed the Budget as disappointing for farming community.
“The Chief Minister’s focus on implementing the Congress guarantees is glaringly visible in the Budget. It is good that such social security programme would empower the vast masses of the people at the bottom of society. But, at the same time, it is disappointing for farmers as their major issues remained unaddressed,” he said.
Manjunath Jewargi, secretary of the Kalyana Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, appreciated the government for increasing the interest-free farm loan limit from ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh and allocating ₹5,000 crore for Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board.
