February 10, 2026
Sukhendu Sekhar Ray’s speech on the Union Budget for 2026-27
Sir, I thank you for giving me this opportunity. While we are discussing the Union Budget 2026, my mind goes back to ancient Indian philosopher who lived in 600 BC. His name was Charvaka; known as a non-believer as he rejected the tenets of Vedas and advocated for materialism as the means of which one lives in the world. To me, the functionaries of the Government look like Charvaka as it appears that the total Government loan including external debt is estimated at Rs. 200.53 lakh crore which signifies the Amrit Kaal. Sir, let me quickly look at a few points from the Budget. There is no change in Income Tax slabs from the previous year though it is claimed that very soon, India will be the third economically developed country in the comity of nations. 100 per cent FDI has been allowed in the insurance sector of India, endangering the business being done by nationalised insurance companies. The Government has finalised IDBI for strategic sale which has 30.40 per cent share of the Government and 30.24 per cent share of LIC. What will be the fate of other nationalised banks? I want to know from the Government. Sir, tax holiday has been announced until 2047 to foreign companies in selected sectors. Further, the tax holiday for IFC units and offshore banking units, infamous as custodians of black money, has been increased from 10 to 20 years. In the name of ease of doing business, between 2024 and 2025, the Government has repealed 1,562 laws to eliminate 40,000 compliance requirements. Why? We need proper explanation. In the same period, over 3,700 legal provisions in different Acts have been decriminalized, replacing imprisonment with monetary penalties. My question is: What about ease of living? How many enactments have been made by the Government to combat the precarious uncertain future being confronted by the vast army of unemployed youth in particular, and other jobless citizens in general, keeping in view that Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees all citizens to live with human dignity? It is laughable that Government has only assured to set up a high-powered committee to look into prospects for education to employment and enterprise. Our experience is that committees and commissions mean mortuaries. In August, 2019, the Government introduced mandatory Document Identification Number (DIN) relating to the I.T. Act. The hon. Finance Minister publically defended it stating that communications without DIN would be thrown in the dustbin. But it has been done away with now. For the past few years, several amendments in Income Tax Act made in the recent past and in this year’s Finance Bill proposes 87 amendments again. The Government ought to have repealed the I.T. Act of 1961 and replaced it with a new I.T. Act. Sir, although a dedicated freight corridor has been announced in the Budget to connect Surat to Dankuni in West Bengal, an earlier freight corridor announced by Ms. Mamta Banerjee as Railway Minister in 2012 from Jalandhar to Dankuni is yet to be completed. After 12 years of commissioning of the project, the end part of the route of only 163 kilometres from Andal to Dankuni was dropped and the 375 kilometres stretch between Son Nagar in Bihar and Andal has not yet been completed. f this type of inordinate delay continues for decades together, I am afraid of completion of Surat to Dankuni freight corridor within next five years as assured in the Budget. Similar apprehension arises about 20 new national waterways as announced in the Budget. What about the completion of much touted Sagarmala projects? How many smart cities came into surface and how many unsmart cities are remaining? The jute industry is reeling under unprecedented crisis as raw jute prices have surged from Rs.7,500/- per quintal to over Rs.13,000 per quintal due to speculative handling of approximately. I always bow down to your ruling, Sir. Now, three minutes have been lost. They have disturbed me like anything. The Leader of the House could have mentioned it or a person nominated by him. Everybody was shouting. Three minutes were lost. I should be compensated for that time. The jute industry is reeling under unprecedented crisis as raw jute prices have surged from Rs.7,500/- per quintal to over Rs.13,000 per quintal due to speculative handling of approximately 25 to 30 lakhs bales by intermediaries, as a result of which production in several jute mills came to a grinding halt rendering nearly one lakh workmen jobless. The hon. Finance Minister has pledged for three kartavyas. Number one is to maintain sustaining economic growth. But IMF and World Bank have different growth projection for 2026. The IMF growth projection for India is 7.3 per cent whereas World Bank has projected 6.3 per cent only. The World Bank has also flagged weak domestic revenue mobilization, particularly in consumption and corporate taxes. This Government is greasing the oily hairs. Experts note a “big miss” in the 2026 Budget regarding dedicated provisions for climate adaption and long-term climate financing goals, which international bodies often advocate for as part of sustainable fiscal planning. It is a matter of great concern that the climatic condition of entire country is going to be unbearable due to rise of unprecedented floods, frequent cyclones, and severe pollution all around. In the National Capital Region, the Delhi Government tried to create artificial rains last year, but the project was failed. Let the Government find out how the first Indian Director General of the India Meteorological Department, Dr Sudhanshu Kumar Banerji, was 100 per cent successful in the field of artificial rain-making as long back as in 1952 in Kolkata without any Government funding and aircraft, but with indigenous hydrogen balloons. That was the first cloud seeding experiment in the country. Sir, the nexus of the Government and the ‘A’ company is writ large when Aravalli Mountain Range was started to be leasing out to the ‘A’ company and maybe to other crony capitalist to excavate minerals including rare earth minerals, notwithstanding that this mountain range is one of the oldest in the world and covers three States in safeguarding ecological degradation. Similar is the case of the lonely planet, that is, the Nicobar Island, when the same ‘A’ company has reportedly received patronage for construction of port city. Sir, let me say now a few words on the economic inequality. Top 1 per cent super rich controls approximately 40 per cent to 51.5 per cent of the total national wealth; top 10 per cent rich owns about 65 per cent to 66 per cent of the total national wealth; 40 per cent middle-class holds roughly 23 per cent of the national wealth; and, 50 per cent poor in bottom owns a very small fraction between 2.8 per cent and 11 per cent of national wealth. The top 10 per cent holding 65 per cent of wealth means that the remaining 90 per cent of the population shares only about 30 per cent of the wealth. Shame! Sir, with the introduction of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the bank fraudsters and willful defaulters have been favoured with an exit route to shirk their loan liabilities. The NCLT is allowing even 40 per cent to 98 per cent haircut of the total dues in the resolution proceedings. The Chief Justice of India had commented in a case on 4th February, 2026, and I quote, “Unfortunately, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is being misused. You get the company and assets undervalued. Then you indulge in a kind of an auction which is also planned. Friends or family come and buy. Valuation of the assets would not be even 1 per cent of the market value. Every day I am observing this.” Why the Government does not scrap this code brought at the instance of the lobby of crony capitalists? Sir, I have stepped into 70 years of my life and I have never witnessed such sky-rocketing inequality between the super rich, rich, middle class, poor and the marginalized sections of the citizens of our country. If the situation is not brought under control, I am afraid that the days are not too far when country will be gulfed into social upheavals as some of our neighbouring countries have recently undergone. Sir, drum-beating has started. Drum-beating has started about the Indo-US Tariff Agreement. Although details are not yet to be announced, it is claimed by the US authorities that India has agreed to stop purchasing oil from Russia and to import from US and Venezuela. How much costs will rise for agreeing to such proposal? I want to know it. If we purchase oil from these two countries, the Indo-Russia Government is to reply. Why? The US says that now Indian market will be open for their dairy, agri-products, etc. And, it has also been hinted that subsidy to farmers that Indian Government spends is to be stopped for a competitive market. This surrender to economic expansionism of USA shall have devastating effect on our agriculture sector. The lofty claim of reduction of tariff from 25 per cent to 18 per cent has a different story. Till last year, US tariff on Indian goods was about 3.5 per cent. Now, 3.5 per cent to 18 per cent means 14.5 per cent enhancement than last year. What is this? We have left our time-tested friend, Russia, and joined hands with a country which all along stood against India and supported a rogue country like Pakistan. This is totally against our national interest. Are we a sovereign democratic republic or a banana republic? The Government must clarify about the Indo-US tariff deal. “ Sir, the Prime Minister said the other day that the fifteen-year Government of West Bengal, elected by the people, is supposedly a cruel Government. The people of the country are showing you a mirror, look! To the people of this country, especially the unemployed, the poor, the poor farmers, the jobless workers and employees – this Government is nothing short of an enemy Government.”
