NEW DELHI: CPI leader Binoy Viswam has alleged the Presidential address in Parliament on Monday at the start of the Budget Session was "filled with hollow claims", while the CPI(M) claimed the Economic Survey was a "PR exercise".
President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the joint sitting of Parliament and highlighted the achievements of the Narendra Modi government.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2021-22 which projected an 8-8.5 per cent growth rate for the Indian economy in 2022-23 fiscal.
In his address, Kovind said the Rs 64,000 crore PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission will prepare the country for a health crisis in the future.
Flagging other achievements of the central government, he said over six crore rural households are getting tap water under the 'Har Ghar Jal initiative'.
"Presidential address was filled with hollow claims. The farmers still wait for the MSP, compensation for the death, repeal of the electricity Act. Progress in agriculture is the result of their sweat; 30 per cent of Indians are yet to be vaccinated," Viswam said in a tweet.
"For whom the public sector pharmaceuticals are kept idle? Covid was used for the profits of private companies. Unemployment is at its peak. President silent. Right to privacy under threat. Parliament redundant. 'Fastest growing' India stands at 101 in global hunger index, behind Pakistan and Bangladesh. Budget imaginable!" he added.
Kovind said India's agriculture exports have also crossed Rs three lakh crore and despite the pandemic, the country's farmers produced 30 crore tonnes of food grains and 33 crore horticulture produce in 2020-21.
He said more than 11 crore farmer families received Rs 1.80 lakh crore through PM-KISAN and big changes have been seen in the farm sector.
The government procured more than 433 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, which benefited more than 50 lakh farmers, the President added.
Critical of the Economic Survey projections, Yechury termed it "propaganda". "Modi govt reduces everything to a PR exercise loaded with propaganda and spin. Economic Survey claims India has grown past the pre-pandemic levels. See this truth," tweeted Yechury attaching a report of ICME which shows how the economy has faltered.
In another tweet, he said, "Economic Survey - "Modi in Wonderland"; Ground Realities: job gap of 200 million, 4/5th of households had income loss, 230 million additionally pushed to poverty, global hunger index, India falls further - 'country with a serious level of hunger'," Yechury said in another tweet.
The Finance Minister will present the Budget for 2022-23 fiscal on February 1.