Assam Opposition Leader Criticizes Union Budget as Regressive

Debabrata Saikia, Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, called the Union Budget 2024–25 regressive and contractionary. He criticized it for not addressing high unemployment, rising food inflation, and slow private investment. Saikia pointed out that increased revenue was used to reduce the fiscal deficit rather than expand economic activities. He also accused the budget’s GDP calculations of data manipulation and highlighted the lack of adequate support for Assam and the Northeast, including insufficient funds for flood control, infrastructure, and the tea industry.