KATHMANDU: Members of the National Assembly (NA), the upper house of the Federal Parliament, on Sunday stressed on the need for effective implementation of the budget for the next fiscal year.    
Taking part in the general discussions on the proposal seeking deliberations on the annual estimates of revenue and expenditures for fiscal year 2024-25 in the NA meeting on Sunday, lawmaker Jag Prasad Sharma stressed on the practical implementation of the budget to addresses the national needs.    
According to him, the budget prioritizes the development and construction, preparing the base of socialism.    
Lawmaker Devendra Dahal said the budget has prioritized the policies and programmes of the coalition government and the government's 16th five-year plan. "It has also addressed the guiding principle of 'Prosperous Nepal and Happy Nepali', and paid special attention to export promotion," he said, stressing on the effective implementation of the budget.    
Lawmaker Dr Beduram Bhusal welcomed the budget, saying it was in the right direction. He added that the budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector is inadequate, stating the budget lacked programmes and plans for attaining self-sufficiency in food.    
Lawmaker Krishna Bahadur Rokaya expressed doubts on the effective implementation of the budget, saying it was of a bloated size. He pointed out the difficulties in its implementation as it is distributive and the expected internal loans were untenable. He further said there is problem in revenue mobilization and the budget lacked fiscal discipline.    
Lawmaker Mohammad Khalid said that looking at the budgetary allocations, the indigenous nationalities, Madhesi, Muslim communities cannot take ownership of the budget, as it fails to address the needs of these communities. He drew the attention of the government to the urgent need of resolving the acute shortage of water in the Tarai/Madhes region.     Meanwhile, lawmakers of the House of Representatives expressed mixed reaction to the budget with most of them being critical about the budget announced by the government. In the ongoing deliberations on budget in the House of Representatives (HoR), the lawmakers argued it was pointless to comment on the budget if the government does not amend it.

Shyam Kumar Ghimire said, "If there is no change in budget despite weeklong deliberations, what's its relevance? Either amend law or present it straight forward for endorsement."    
According to him, the government failed in capital formation despite taking huge amount of public debt in recent years.    
Lawmaker from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Dhawal Shumser JB Rana said the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2081-82 BS (2024-25) failed to address the country's economic slowdown.    
Taking part in the general deliberations on the budget in a meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Sunday, Rana said the budget has come with a 'distributive approach', instead of presenting substantive plans to address the economic slowdown existing in the country.    
He also expressed his concern over the decision to allocate a 'minimum' budget to the agricultural sector and the projects of national pride.    
Advising the government to focus on the implementation aspect of the budget, the RPP leader said it is indeed welcoming to announce 'good programmes' in the start-up sector.

Similarly, Rekha Yadav said the budget speech failed to encourage the masses. "It has been challenging to effectively implement the budget," she said.    
She also expressed her concerns over the reduction of the budget to the agricultural sector, accusing the government of overlooking the productive sector.    
Yadav also criticized the government for being 'unable' to address the water crisis issue in the Chure region and to conserve the region. The exploitation of the Chure in the name of the stone quarry and the extraction of other natural resources be promptly stopped and it should be the priority of the State, she said.    

Hem Raj Rai however commented that the budget would give pace to national economy. Priority to agriculture, energy, tourism and IT is a good point, he added.    

Gyanu Basnet Subedi also claimed the budget would help revive the sputtering economy.    
Binita Kathayat accused the government of failing to allocate adequate budget for tourism destinations such as Rara. She wondered why government stilled ignored Karnali Province while it is still lagging behind in terms of development.    
Teju Lal Chaudhari also complained that Karnali and Madhes provinces which are lagging behind in Human Development Index were deprived of adequate budget.    
Pratima Gautam accused the government of ignoring capital formation and development in the budget. The finance ministers failed to take initiatives for economic restructuring, she asserted.    
The loan for start-up, fellowship to 1,000 youths, announcement of women investment year were encouraging aspects of budget, according to Eknath Dhakal. Even the plan to welcome 1.6 million tourists is appreciative.    
Kantika Sejuwal argued that budget was traditional and it would not be able to achieve sustainable development goals. She expressed concerns over not prioritizing the availability of agricultural tool and goods. “Budget is populist in nature,” she added.     Basudev Ghimire viewed implementation of budget is discouraging because of the lack of coordination among province and local levels. The budget is focused more on physical infrastructures while it ignored others.    
Former Finance Minister, Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, stressed on the need of increasing financial investment in the productive sector. -- RSS