Budget Fails to Heed Govt’s Own Economic Survey Concerns Over Plight of Working People: CITU

New Delhi: The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has said the Union Budget 2025-26 has shown clearly that the Narendra Modi-led government continues with a “brazenly pro-corporate and anti-people approach while making deceptive postures of so-called pro-people and pro-growth initiatives.”

Terming the Union Budget as a “deceptive way of furthering loot and plunder without addressing the concerns and plight of working class”, the CITU called upon the working people to join nationwide protest on February 5, 2025.

In its reaction to the Budget proposals, table in Parliament on February 1, a CITU statement pointed out that the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had “chosen to remain totally indifferent to the stark findings of its own Economic Survey released the day before”, which flagged the stark reality of wages/earnings of salaried and self-employed working people in 2023-24, which were still hovering below pre-pandemic levels, while corporate profits had soared to a 15-year high.

“The situation demands an expansionary budget, funded out of taxing the corporate and the rich,” said CITU, adding that the Union Budget 2025 turns out to be a “contractionary one, targeting a further lower fiscal deficit target of 4.4% from 4.9% last year.”

It said the Budget has further pushed the pace of privatisation, drawing attention to the protests by electricity employees across the nation.

 “The Union Budget has offered the concession of increasing the loan borrowing limit of state Govts by 0.5% of the GSDP provided they further the power sector privatization, particularly of the distribution segment. The Allocation for states has also been reduced compared to the previous year in real terms,” it noted.

The statement, released by Tapan Sen, general secretary, CITU, also condemned the move to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector to 100% “clandestinely through finance Bill in the face of Govt’s failure to pass the Insurance Amendment Bill owing to employees’ struggle.”

Also, several funds proposed, such as the Maritime Development Fund, Urban Challenge Fund, India Infrastructure Project Development Fund are all on Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model, i.e, “public funds to be exploited by private for private gains and control which is only a precursor to the privatization,” it said.

CITU also flayed the Modi government for “succumbing” to US pressure of opening up the nuclear energy sector to private players by proposing to amend the Atomic Energy Act and Civil Liability Act for Nuclear Damage Act.  

CITU said it was “shocked” that the Railway Budget had suffered a cut to Rs 2.55 lakh crore from Rs 2.62 lakh crore previous year, drawing attention to the fact that rail accidents, including fatal ones, were “increasing alarmingly year on year.”