No effective initiative in Budget, says MP

There was no effective initiative inthe Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said Rajya Sabha MP and leader of LoktantrikJanata Dal (LJD) M V MV Shreyams Kumar on Monday.

No such initiative to overcome the financial crisisdue to outbreak of COVID-19 and the global economic slowdown,he said.

''Instead, a sellout of the public sector proposed in thebudget is clear,'' he said in a statement.

Kumar criticised the plan to increase foreign directinvestment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 74 percent.

''In the name of strategic disinvestment, thegovernment has proposed to generate Rs 1.75 lakh crore bydisinvesting public sector companies, banks and insurancecompanies. Major ports too are put up for sale under the garbof private-public partnership,'' he said.

The LJD leader said there was no plan to createemployment opportunities for youth when the unemploymentratio was at a record high in the country.

He said when tea plantation workers in Assam andBengal were considered for a Rs 1,000-crore welfare scheme,plantation workers in Kerala were neglected.

Kumar, however, said he was happy over the allotmentof Rs 65,000 crore for road construction in Kerala and Rs1,957 crore for expansion of the Kochi Metro Rail.