Union Budgets presented in the parliament continue to draw a lot of attention. Public meetings are held in various fora to discuss the pros and cons of the budget. Such meetings are attracting less crowds these days. This is perhaps understandable because very few discussions are objective and non-political.
Ms. Nirmala Seetaraman presented her seventh consecutive budget on July 23rd. The major departure in this budget is address of the need for demand-stimulation. Earlier budgets focused on the supply side. There is more focus now on employment.
The government wants 1 crore internships to be offered by 500 companies in the next 5 years. This means an average of 20 lac internships every year. This translates, on average, to 4,000 interns in every company. This just cannot happen.
Benefit of indexation for computation of Long Term Capital Gains has been withdrawn. Apart from its controversial nature, the Finance Minister justifies the move as a measure to ease computational burden. This is a cruel joke. Assesses look for tax relief and not computation relief.
The Chief Economic Advisor who prepares the Economic Survey wants that price of food items may not be used as an input for measuring inflation to be monitored by RBI. This is in connection with the target to RBI on inflation management. This suggestion is abhorrent as the common man continues to struggle because of food inflation.
