No sops for tea industry in Union budget

Prashant Acharya, EOI, Siliguri, 10 Jul 2014: The world famous Darjeeling tea remained conspicuous by its absence in the budget presented today by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in Parliament.

Reacting to this, a senior tea planter from Darjeeling said, “The lifeline of the hills’ economy, the tea sector, found no mention in the budget announced by the finance minister.”

He added the budget is not at all acceptable to the tea industry, which pays hefty revenue to the government.

"Small tea growers contribute 36 per cent to the nation’s total tea yield. But we are deprived of almost all support in terms of finance. Once again our pleas have gone unheard," remarked Bijay Gopal Chakroborty, secretary of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Association (CISTA).

Meanwhile, PK Shah, former chairman of the CII North Bengal chapter, said, "Being the gateway to the North-East, north Bengal will benefit from the additional funds allocated to the North-Eastern region.”

Biswajit Das from FOCIN said, “The budget has not made the people of North Bengal happy as it did not fulfill the aspiration of the business class as well as the general public.”

Dr Anil Buimali, an economist and senior professor with North Bengal University, said, “The budget has made the farmers happy. The finance minister talked about various measures for farmers such as the 'Krishi Sinchai Yojana' that will benefit them and help in achieving the guiding principle of 'per drop, more crop'.

However, political parties including the CPM, TMC, INC and CPI (ML) have strongly criticised the budget. CPI (ML) supporters today burned the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the budget would negatively affect the poor. CPI (ML) chief Abhijit Mazumdar said, “The budget is not at all acceptable as there is nothing for the common people.”