India Budget 2015 should cater to all sections of the society

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By Ahmed Mohiuddin Siddiqui,
The nation is waiting to watch what comes out of ‘Jaitley ki Potley’ in the new budget. Will the budget be pro-poor or pro-industrialists? Suddenly, the focus has shifted to the farmer-industrialist divide wedged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the centre led by the never ending promises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Will the suiciding farmers and the landless farmers get any succour? Will the Adani, Ambani brigade have the last laugh with concessions at the cost of the common man?

The Modi government has not been able to deliver on their promises in the last nine months. The Delhi Legislative Assembly election results must have given food for thought to both BJP and Modi. The budget could be a tightrope walk for the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. There are high expectations from all quarters. After all, Modi showed the moon in the voters’ palms in his electoral speeches in the past one year.

The government’s emphasis on savings all these years has been a double whammy for the common man. For example, a government employee works for 35 -40 years and when he or she retires gets the accumulated savings and benefits. Here comes the catch. If an employee gets Rs 1 crore after toiling for four decades and deposits in a bank, the interest accrued will be taxed! Why on earth should interest earned on savings be taxed? Rs 1 crore in ten years after adjusting inflation will be similar to something like Rs 50 lakhs. So, it is a recurring loss year after year.

The tax structure needs to be revamped and simplified. The tax slabs should be reduced. There should be a significant rise in the income tax exemption limit. The unorganized sector, which earns crores of rupees without paying any taxes should be brought in the tax net. Many professions considered as poor man’s business rake in a lot of unaccounted money simply because they do not give receipts of their business. The problem of black money in the market will also be solved to an extent if the government taxes the unorganized sector. Only the salaried class should not be milked all the time.

During the last six decades, the minorities, especially, Muslims have been neglected by governments of all hues – the democratic and secular ones and the not so democratic and communal governments taking turns to pass the buck for the sorry state of minorities’ deprivation and exploitation. There must be an end to this. If upliftment measures for minorities are not taken by providing 20% of the budget for them, the slogan – Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikaas will sound hollow. The nationalized banks and the private banks have consistently shown bias against the minorities, especially, Muslims regarding disbursal of loans. A poor Muslim runs from pillar to post for a loan of Rs 1 lakh or less but the banks turn him away. The banks are not so ‘careful’ when it comes to giving loans to people like Vijay Mallya who takes loans never to return them. They could not even decipher his name yet.

The Government of India should do away with the concept of margin money and routing loans through banks. It should directly send the money to the Minorities Finance Corporations in all the states. The ‘middlemen’ Banks should be avoided so that loans really reach the deserving poor. All educational loans for minorities should be interest free.

The tumbling of crude oil prices has started taking a toll on the economies of the oil-rich Gulf nations. Some Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) have started losing their jobs because their employers whether the governments, the public or the private sector are finding it increasingly difficult to foot the salary bill. In the coming months, if the crude oil prices do not roll back to the normal, India will find a deluge of the returning NRIs. This budget should provide for rehabilitation measures with new business opportunities, interest free loans, education and health schemes. It is a myth that all NRIs are money bags. The majority of NRIs comprises of the blue collar workers in the Gulf countries. They do not have any substantial savings. They should be taken care of in certain terms. The NRIs give their ‘youth’ for the sake of the nation and return as middle-aged or elderly people. They deserve a better deal!

The budget should be a healthy mix of economics, which caters to all sections of the society. Economic sense is common sense too.


Ahmed Mohiuddin Siddiqui is a senior journalist, political analyst and columnist. He is widely followed in Asia, Africa and Europe. You can follow him on Twitter handle: @journopolana
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