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A wishlist
* A push to entrepreneurship and job creation
* Investments in agriculture
* Personal income-tax relief
* Calls for improving education and health
* More sops for e-vehicles
* Curbing use of plastics
A push to entrepreneurship and job creation, investments in agriculture and some personal income-tax relief are some of the key asks in the wishlist of the aam aadmi ahead of Union Budget 2020-21. All this amidst a slowing economy, upcoming State elections and the uproar over the CAA and the NRC.
The Finance Ministry received as many as 18,915 suggestions from people on the government website www.mygiv.in for the Union Budget, which will be presented on February 1.
“In order to make the Union Budget-making process participative and inclusive, the Finance Ministry has sought inputs from citizens for the last several years. This year, too, the Ministry looks forward to hearing from you on your suggestions for the Union Budget...,” it had said, seeking suggestions from citizens by January 20.
In the past, the government has often taken up many of the innovative proposals and made them a part of the Budget.
Calls for improving education and health, boosting economic growth and pushing up investments in agriculture are a common theme running through most suggestions.
Many citizens have also put in representations for the Goods and Services Tax — ranging from simplifying it to including more products such as petroleum under GST, though how many can be taken up in the Budget is unclear.
Acknowledging the government’s limited fiscal space, which may make it difficult to cut income tax rates, many have sought some relief in terms of a higher investment limit under Section 80 C, increasing the standard deduction or even hiking rates of term deposits and savings accounts.
Increasing the money in the hands of the middle class will also boost consumption and the savings rate and spur the economy, they reason. The long-pending revision of wages of bank employees has also been suggested.
Job creation
The need for more job creation by filling up vacancies in government jobs and a spur to entrepreneurship as well as micro, small and medium enterprises is another common refrain from citizens. These could be in the form of a specialised fund for working capital for such firms, said some suggestions.
Others called for more controls on e-commerce. With rising concerns over pollution, suggestions have also poured in for waste segregation, more sops for electric vehicles, curbing use of plastics in food products, and population control.
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