Opposition parties have criticized the government’s estimate of income and expenditure for the upcoming fiscal year 2022-23 as they termed it guided by a distributive approach. 

Taking part in the deliberations on the budget during a session of the House of Representatives (HoR) today, CPN-UML lawmaker Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal said the allocation of budget to respond the issues of landless people was positive, but it was focused on election and guided by the distributive mindset.  

Hridayesh Tripathi from the same party questioned the government to further clarify its plan to provide a contribution-based pension. As he assessed, farmers would not be directly beneficial from the announcement for increasing investment in agriculture.  

Rajendra Lingden of Rastriya Prajatantra Party said that the budget seemed not capable of intervening in a rising market price.  As he claimed, “The budget focused on elections and the distribution will not bring a substantive change in people’s life.”

Questioning the sources of income, he said the budget based on foreign aid and loans lacked a ground for implementation.   

Meanwhile, Rastriya Janamorcha’s Durga Poudel was of the opinion that just distribution of land was the requirement to promote agricultural production.  She pressed for national independence, sovereignty and interest while accepting foreign aid.  

As the lawmaker stressed, the government should take measures for protecting domestic industries. Drawing the government’s attention toward no allocation of specific budget for combating increasing violence against women, she demanded the government bear responsibility of livelihood of rape survivors.