Reeling under constant sharp rise in food items and fuel prices, the common man seemed to have welcomed whatever little has been thrown in its lap in the Union Budget presented on Monday by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
“The raise in the non-taxable income limit will give me a benefit of approximately `2,000. It may not seem much from my perspective, but there is a large section of people, particularly those with incomes not much above the exemption limit who will benefit a lot,” said Vishal K. Singh, working in an international NGO.
The reduction of age limit from 65 to 60 years for senior citizens has enthused the elderly. “I don’t mind being technically declared an old man at 60 itself. And now there is a new category of people who are over 80 years of age for whom the tax exemption limit is up to `5 lakhs. I think it is not a bad time to be termed old,” said K.L. Mathur, a senior lawyer. He added that there are many senior citizens who live alone in the city and need the finances to protect themselves from being vulnerable.
Women are not happy primarily because they are not sure whether their kitchen cost will come down. “Refrigerator and mobile phone will get cheap. But my only question is whether rice, dal, wheat flour and vegetables will get cheaper,” said Geeta Singh, a dentist working out of home.
However, civil society was disappointed over the Budget provisions for women and children. “It is not a gender-sensitive Budget,” said Ranjana Kumari of Centre for Social Research. The increased allocation for women and children is not enough,she said.
Many felt that some good steps towards reforming the education sector have been taken up but the real challenge before the government is to ensure effective implementation.