The National Scheduled Castes’ Alliance (NSCA) on Sunday urged the Centre to immediately enhance the income tax slabs for the scheduled castes keeping in view their present plight.
“I urge the Central Government to order enhancement of the Income Tax slab for the Scheduled Castes from the present Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs 6 lakh keeping in view the present plight of the persons belonged to these castes,” said NSCA president Paramjit Singh Kainth.
NSCA also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard, he said.
Kainth demanded that the slab must be connected to the price index so that the SCs will get a relief over this front. “Due to the ever-increasing prices, the people belonging to the SC community are pushed towards the poverty line. Thus, it is the Centre’s constitutional duty to help them out by increasing the slab,” he added.
He pointed that the Government had recently increased the OBC creamy layer from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8lakh for more equitable distribution of reservation benefit. “The SC community also deserve such a raise in IT slab,” he added.
Kainth urged the Government to be more considerate and compassionate in the affairs of the SC community and warned it of the growing misuse of political might and politicised bureaucracy against the SCs.