Trade union groups have urged the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, to revise upwards the exemption limit for personal income tax in the upcoming Budget.

Many workers, especially in the lower and middle income groups, have been facing the brunt of crippling inflation in the last few years. The overall inflation level has been over nine per cent in the last 12 months except that of December 2011.

At their pre-Budget interaction with Mr Mukherjee today, the representatives of the trade union groups stressed the need for more preventive measures from the Government to safeguard the interest of workers.

They also felt that wages of contract labour should be at par with that of regular labour. Necessary changes should be carried out in the company law to ensure that workers also get a share of the net profits, it was suggested.

Some members stressed the need for assured pension for all. They said that the pension amount should be reasonable enough for the workers to sustain themselves. It was also suggested that the publication of GDP data and employment data should be linked and published together.

The implementation of the MGNREGA scheme should be reviewed periodically and there should be a mechanism, whereby malpractices in the scheme could be curbed, they said.

In his opening remarks, Mr Mukherjee said that food inflation has come down on the negative side in the last two consecutive weeks. He also noted that the widening current account deficit appears difficult to manage especially due to fall in exports in later part of 2011.

> krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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