LSP President Slams Finance Minister

Lok Satta Party (LSP) President Jayaprakash Narayan on Monday alleged that Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee confined himself to jugglery with statistics, and did away with the golden opportunity to usher in basic economic reforms.

Addressing media on the Union Budget, Dr. Narayan said that the budget was eloquently silent on strengthening the rural economy, by the means of making farming remunerative, providing livelihood opportunities to youth, improving urban infrastructure, empowering local governments, providing better health care and education facilities, and attaining fuel security.

"Since the government's revenues are satisfactory, and there are no impending electoral compulsions, the Finance Minister ought to have reviewed the economic reforms that were initiated 2 decades ago, and should have introspected why farmers continue to end their lives, and why people oppose location of a power plant in Srikakulam district," the LSP chief added.

Dr. Narayan said that although the Finance Minister dwelt at length on farming, he did not outline any measure to improve farmers' incomes. The government has failed to liberate the farmers from the license-permit raj, even 20 years after initiating economic reforms.

"The Government did not outline any measure to promote production and use of bio-fuels to reduce dependence on oil imports," he bemoaned.

The LSP President demanded the publication of a white paper on the government policy on thermal power plants. "Allowing thermal power plants to sprout like mushrooms without reference to the state's requirements is unwarranted and harmful," the former bureaucrat warned. He also demanded reforms in the land acquisition policy to ensure justice to the dispossessed.

Courtesy: INN