Dhanbad residents have termed the Union Budget a mixed bag, but the salaried class dubbed it a disappointment as no income tax concessions were announced.

Also upset were insurance employees who termed the Union finance minister’s announcement of increasing FDI in the sector to 74 per cent from 49 per cent as discouraging.

But doctors and the medical fraternity at large welcomed the Union Budget for its increase in allocation for the health sector. Traders and industrialists also welcomed the budget.

Pramod Pathak, former head of the department of management studies of IIT (ISM), said the budget was a mixed bag. The focus on the health sector was much needed. But the excessive focus on privatization, especially the increase of FDI in the insurance sector, was not required, he explained.

“Though some sops have been given to the MSME sector and micro industries, until and unless the confidence of the common consumers is increased, the economy will not improve,” said Pathak, who is also president of Jharia Coalfield Management Association.

On start-ups, he said that although promotional steps were announced for the development of mobile apps, the focus should have been on the promotion of cottage industries.

General Secretary of Jharkhand Industries and Trade Association Rajiv Sharma said, “The Budget is more or less on expected lines. We expected it to be an extension of the announcements made by the finance minister in May last year.

“The focus on industries will help boost the economy, and considering that we are battling a pandemic, the budget seems to be good enough,” he said.

IMA state president Dr A.K. Singh termed the Budget as forward looking because of increased allocation for the health sector. “Learning lessons from the pandemic, the government has taken pragmatic steps to increase spending on the health sector which was most needed,” said Singh, who lives in Dhanbad.

Hemant Kumar, the Dhanbad based general secretary of Insurance Employee’s Association, Hazaribagh division, termed the Budget “disgusting, discouraging” and “pro-capitalist”.

“It will lead to more inequality. The Budget is anti-farmer, anti-labour and we vehemently oppose the increase in FDI in the insurance sector,” he said.

“The government has announced nothing about restoring jobs of crores of migrants who have had to return to their homes in the absence of work,” he rued.