The first Union Budget of the Narendra Modi Government evoked mixed response from the people of Doon valley here. The expectation of the people from the Modi Government’s first budget was high in wake of the promise of Good days which BJP and Narendra Modi made during the run up of the recent General Elections.
For the salaried class the most awaited portion of Finance Minister’s Budget speech was income tax proposals and they were not disappointed as the Finance Minister raised the income tax limit at the entry level. Ravindra Panwar, a Branch Manager of a private company said that the proposal to raise the tax limit is a welcome step as a person earning up Rs 2.5 lakh per year would be out of tax net now.
“The proposals to increase tax exemptions under 80 CC from Rs 1.0 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh and increase limit of investment in Public Provident Fund (PPF) from Rs 1.0 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh would give much needed relief to the common tax payers” he said. RN Joshi, a government servant, however, was of the opinion that instead of Rs 2.5 lakh, the Finance Minister should have hiked the tax limit to Rs 4.0 lakh.
Divisional Manager of one of a leading private life insurance company, Naveen Srivastava told The Pioneer the decision to allow 49 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the insurance sector would give a much needed impetus to the insurance industry in the country. He said that the FDI would bring more capital in the insurance industry which would increase the penetration of insurance in the country. Srivastava was also appreciative of the decision to allot Rs 37,800 crore for National Highway Authority India (NHAI) as it would give a boost to the infrastructure activities in the country.
The founder of Samadhan Help line for women, Renu D Singh was disappointed by lack of any concrete proposals in the budget to prevent crime against women. She said gender budgeting is need of the hour to give women their due. An engineering student Abhinav Bisht said that the proposal to set up five new IITs, IIMs, four new AIIMS and 12 new medical colleges is a good step. He, however, added that he noticed nothing in the budget for increasing the employment generation.
Arpit Jain, a businessman, was of the opinion that the budget is industry friendly as measures like creation of new cities, Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and road network would give a boost to the economy. The increase in cost of branded clothes, soft drinks and cosmetics irked Defence Colony resident Pragati Sharma while Arti Balodi a teacher by profession rued that the income tax structure for women tax payers was kept unchanged.