The Union budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would facilitate neoliberalisation, said economist Venkitesh Athreya. He was speaking on ‘Union budget and Indian economy’, at a programme organized by E. Balanandan Research Foundation here on Tuesday. The budget doesn’t have any proposal to increase revenue. The new budget is not different from that presented by the UPA government. It is injustice to tax a person with Rs.10 lakh income on par with another having Rs.100 crore. Why was the government not imposing higher tax on the rich, he asked.
The move for disinvestment in public sector banks is a dangerous one. Opening up of insurance sector and Defence for foreign direct investment will adversely affect the country’s self-reliance. There was no worthwhile proposal to contain inflation, poverty and unemployment, he said. The Foundation chairman M.M. Lawrence presided over the function.