Kathmandu, May 10
The National Assembly has started discussions on the principles and priorities (except tax proposal) of the Appropriation Bill for the Fiscal Year 2018/19.
Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada had presented a proposal in the NA meeting on Wednesday seeking discussions on the Bill.
Taking part in the discussions, Balram Prasad Baskota said the roadmap for building a prosperous and happy Nepal contained in the proposal presented by the Finance Minister was positive.
Radheshyam Adhikari commented that the country’s economic situation was not as projected in the White Paper that the Finance Minister had earlier presented. On the Appropriation Bill, he said the budget for the education sector has been decreased and the Bill failed to incorporate the higher education and research, maintaining the educational standard of the community schools.
He called for allocating budget for the Sunkoshi Kamala Diversion Project, urging the Finance Minister to come up with a clear concept regarding the human resource development.
Jeevan Budha said although he concurred with the prioritization of the Appropriation Bill regarding the basis of economic prosperity, the tendency of allocating the budget to the remote areas and the accessible areas putting them in the same basket was wrong. He called for increasing the budget allocated to the remote areas.
Ramprit Paswan said the conceptualizing capitalist economy under the cover of the socialist economy was in itself wrong, adding that development would be impossible without resolving the problem of class and caste disparity. He demanded that the budget should focus on reducing this disparity.
The National Assembly meeting is underway.
RSS
