Bhubaneswar: In the midst of high expectations, the Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal, Friday rolled out the much-awaited interim Budget for the Financial Year (FY) 2019-2020. Targeted at appeasing the middle class that comprise 40% of the total population along with agricultural sector, this year’s Budget has had mixed responses from the people so far.
Orissa POST shares what the people of the Capital have to say about the interim Budget, 2019.
‘Ache Din’ for the middle class
The central government increased the threshold for tax exemption from `2.5 lakhs to `5 lakh per annum for professionals below 60 years of age. This, according to Goyal, ‘Will benefit about 3 crore middle class taxpayers.’
Political parties tend to present a populist Budget in the year of general elections. Yet, the decision to not levy taxes on income upto `5 lakh per annum is welcomed by the salaried class. The TDS limit increase to 50K from previous 40K is also a welcome move. The decision to keep 10 per cent reservation for upper caste poor families should reap the intended benefits for the government.
Sriram Singh Rattan, Private Employee
This measure will be extremely beneficial to us salaried individuals. With a yearly salary of just 4 lakhs per annum, the taxation was overwhelming. Even the conveyance allowances weren’t exempted earlier. However, the new Budget exempts travel allowance upto `19,200 which comes as a relief.
Suresh Das, Govt Employee
Senior citizens like us were taxed when we were just earning `3.5 lakh per annum. The new policy states that tax will be exempted if one is earning under `5 lakh per annum. This will help us save more for a rainy day.
Shanti Lata Mishra, Senior Citizen
Banking sector
The deficit in the budget target 3.4% for the fiscal year ending March, 2020. However, with no new policies introduced to increase revenue, it will be interesting to see how the government meets its fiscal deficit target.
The Finance Minister has a clear idea as to where he would like Indian economy to be in the next 10 years. By containing the target current account deficit to 2.5% for FY19 and fiscal deficit to 3.4% for both FY19 and FY20, the Budget has laid a roadmap for the economy. This, combined with digital payments, will remove hassle for taxpayers and will bring better growth.
Sarthak Arya, Banker
‘Sabka Vikas’ for farmers?
While the government has announced a direct income support of `6,000 per year for the farmers and a monthly pension of `3000 for the workers in the informal sectors, experts in the city have raised questions about the policy’s factuality.
“The declaration is too vague. The policy gives support to farmers with under 2 hectares land. What if any farmer has none? Also the math in the fiscal management is fuzzy given the shortfall and disinvestment in GST,” he adds.
Bishnupriya Hota, Teacher
The NDA government has always been promoting itself as ‘pro-people’ but the reality is far from it. The government failed to give youth jobs based on their educational qualification, hence they have increased the grant for MGNREGA. The government surely does not expect graduates to start digging pits and fill them with mud for minimum wage. The scheme for farmers is also a direct rip-off from Odisha’s KALIA scheme. It points at the government’s lack of understanding and imagination.
Jyotsna Priyadarshini, Student
Women upliftment
Maternity leave of 26-weeks is good initiative. It comes as a sigh of relief for working women.
Sarojini Brahma, BSCL Official
The Budget hardly has any provisions for women except for the 26=week maternity leave. It does little for the perils women face at the workplace. Women make up a significant part of the economy and can make a considerable contribution towards the growth of the Indian economy. The decision of tax exemption is an election driven move.
Ranjita Patra, Compere At All India Radio, Cuttack
Promising and Positive
The bill seems to have struck a right chord with the few who have given thumbs up to the budget.
This is an interim Budget before the general elections and is populist in nature. It is interesting to note that the Budgets since 2014 catered to the richer classes but this time, it is about farmers and middle class.
Piyush Ranjan Rout, Urban Planner
As a member of the film industry, I believe that the single window clearance that is being given to filmmakers is a welcome move. Shooting permissions will be easy to get and will take lesser time. I believe this Budget looks at the film industry as a major force in the country. I congratulate Modiji for understanding our problems and finding a viable solution.
Nila Madhab Panda, Film Director
The interim Budget focuses on the middle class and farmers. There have been many neatly woven sops which will delight most. Had this been a budget been presented a year or two back,
it would not have felt so
opportunistic. For regional artists and Cinema there is hardly any relief.
Swastik Choudhury , Filmmaker