Raising serious concern over the "bad state of affairs of economy", declining growth, falling investment, Opposition MPs in Lok Sabha on Monday asked the Government to take corrective measures to arrest the slowdown and generate employment.
The MPs were speaking at the second day of debate on Budget and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will reply on Tuesday afternoon in Lok Sabha and evening in Rajya Sabha, the last working day of the first part of Budget Session.
Participating in the debate on the Union Budget 2020-21 in Lok Sabha, BJD member B Mahtab called for financial sector reforms to revive rapidly declining investment. "We are measuring GDP growth. More the investment, the growth would be faster and quicker," he said, adding that adequate corrective measures were necessary to boost growth which is estimated to slip to five per cent in 2019-20. Banks were not in a position to lend to infrastructure, Mahtab said and asked the government not to lose sight of wider reforms in the public sector.
"There is a need to bring competition within the banking sector," he said.
NCP's Supriya Sule termed the budget as "long and tiresome" and said it has exposed the failure "of this Govt when it comes to fiscal health".
She said the Government talks about achieving USD 5 trillion economy but "we are not even barely crossing five per cent (growth)".
Former Union Minister Preneet Kaur (Cong) said the presumption of 10 per cent nominal GDP growth and 12 per cent rise in tax collection seems unrealistic given the low economic growth and falling exports.
However, BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi said there is a balance between intent and content, and vision and provision in the Budget. "We have moved from policy paralysis to policy action under the Narendra Modi government," she said adding the focus is on growth and the Budget will strengthen the foundation of Indian economy in the new decade.
The Budget promotes six major sectors against the backdrop of current economic scenario, she said. It will help facilitate investment, spur consumption while giving a push to infrastructure and fillip to agriculture sector, she added.
Gajanan Kirtikar (Shiv Sena), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), AM Ariff (CPI-M), ET Mohammad Basheer (Muslim League), Sunita Duggal (BJP), Brijbhusan Sharan Singh (BJP), Krishna Lauv (YSRCP), Nama Nageshwar Rao (TRS) and Benny Behanan (Cong) also participated on the debate.