Agartala: Tripura Budget session witnessed strong critique of the State Budget 2025-26 from the Opposition Bench.
The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and CPIM Secretary of Tripura, Jitendra Choudhury warned the State Government during the ongoing Tripura Budget Session about country’s ‘falling’ GDP and suggested to adopt more inclusive development stressing on crucial socio-economic sector rather than running after capital investments.
Tripura Budget Session day 2
On the second day of the session on Monday, Choudhury urged the government to prioritize key socio-economic sectors like education, agriculture, and employment, rather than relying solely on capital investment. Choudhury also raised concerns over the depreciating Indian rupee, growing economic disparity, and declining public sector job opportunities.
LoP highlights national economic situation
He highlighted the country’s economic condition and analyzed the impact of the state budget. According to him, India’s GDP at constant prices (using 2011-12 as the base year) was 6.4% between 2004 and 2014, but it declined to 5.1% from 2014 to 2024. He also claimed that a significant amount of foreign investment had been withdrawn due to slow economic growth further impacting the development of the country.
Choudhury pointed out the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar. In 2014, 1 USD was equal to Rs 59.65, but by 2024, the exchange rate had fallen to Rs 87.08. He also discussed factors contributing to the country’s GDP decline and the rupee’s devaluation.
The CPIM leader suggested that the government focus on secondary structural growth and business sector expansion to reduce the country’s reliance on agriculture. He noted that about 70% of India’s population still depends on agriculture for their livelihood.
He further claimed that 90% of Indians can only afford basic necessities, while the number of billionaires has doubled from 100 in 2014 to 200 in 2024. Meanwhile, the common people continue to struggle financially.
CPIM leader advises State govt
The LoP argued that the country is not making real progress and warned that Tripura could face a similar economic downturn if corrective measures are not taken.
Choudhury strongly criticized the State Budget for the 2025-26 financial year, which Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy had tabled on March 21.
Turning to the state budget, he said that increasing capital expenditure alone would not drive growth unless it was supported by improvements in other key areas such as human resources.
Notably, the 2025-26 state Budget proposed a 19.14% increase in capital expenditure. However, he stressed that inclusive development requires investment in socio-economic sectors like agriculture and education, not just capital projects.
Criticizing the budget, Choudhury cited the example of the recent Group D recruitment. He noted that many candidates with master’s degrees and even PhDs had applied for these jobs, which he said indicated economic stagnation.
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He also raised concerns about the decline in the number of school teachers in Tripura. According to him, the number of teachers dropped by over 11,000 between 2017 and 2024. He further criticized the government for reducing funds for MNREGA and failing to create enough man-days under the scheme.
Commenting on the Youth Affairs and Sports Department, Choudhury criticized the government for prioritizing synthetic turf installations. He argued that such turfs are not widely used elsewhere and that training on artificial surfaces would make it difficult to develop football talent in Tripura.
Other Opposition leaders speak
Apart from Choudhury, CPIM MLAs Asoke Mitra and Ramu Das, along with veteran Congress MLA Gopal Roy, also participated in the budget discussion today.
Asoke Mitra raised the issue of regularizing part-time employees working in various departments and under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. He recalled that before the 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP had promised to regularize these workers. However, after coming to power, the party abandoned the promise.
He also pointed out that the BJP-led government scrapped a rule that granted automatic regularization to part-time workers with 10 years of uninterrupted service.
Mitra further criticized the government for not regularizing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan staff, even though other states had already done so.
Ramu Das, in his speech, painted a grim picture of Tripura’s health sector. Meanwhile, Gopal Roy urged the Chief Minister to pay more attention to rural areas.
