2011
BUDGE T
What India’s common man wants
‘The poor in our country are expected to die’
Kanak Kanti Pariya
Headmaster
Ours is a strange country. Here there is no guarantee or
security for the lives of the poor. Every year, the finance
minister, whosoever it may be, presents the Budget amid
much fanfare. But does it improve the condition of the peo-
ple living below the poverty line? It does not. The rich get
Indrani Roy Mitra and Manu A B
find out what Indians want from this year’s Budget
DIPAK CHAKRABOR T Y
richer and the poor poorer. The overall condition of India
remains unchanged.
I hope that the finance minister showers more Income
Tax benefits in the Budget. As a teacher, I would urge him
to have more schools, colleges, research centers across
India. The seeds of development lie in education. A country of uneducated people has no future.
Also, since the United Progressive Alliance is often pro-
jected as the most pro-poor government, I appeal to the
finance minister to take the following steps:
Launch more banks for the poor
Take steps to improve the state of the refugees
Grant more loans at easy rates for farmers
Take measures so that farmers with more than
one bigha of land is taxed
Focus on the villages more than on the cities
‘Control inflation, Mr Finance Minister’
Subhasish Sarkar
Airline employee
First, I would appeal to Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee to take up
the issue of inflation on
a war footing. Prices of
essential commodities
have gone through the
roof. How can the middle class make both ends
meet when liquefied
petroleum gas is as
expensive as Rs 375
(about $8) a cylinder?
And rumor has it that it
will cost Rs 400 (about
$8) after the Budget. I
don’t understand what’s
wrong with the UPA
government? Why can’t
it control the prices?
Things are going from
bad to worse and the government is just sitting pretty. I
work for a private airline where the salary is not as lucrative as that in foreign airlines. Therefore, I am finding it
difficult to run the house with the money I get. I urge the
finance minister to make salaries of private airlines’ staff
competitive, if not at par with those of their counterparts in
foreign airlines. This will have a double impact. It will aid
people like us to lead better lives and will also help private
airlines retain skilled people.
forgery have become the ways of life now and people like
us, who are caught between parental lectures on ethics and
issues of subsistence just can’t figure out what to do and
when. I have heard that in foreign countries, the government takes the poor and the marginalized under its wings
and doles out assistance. Here it’s the opposite. In India,
the poor are given least importance and are just allowed to
die of starvation. I have no hesitation in admitting that my
financial state has worsened over the past five years and I
have been forced to cut down on comforts. Perhaps, the
lawmakers are doing it on purpose. The poor have no place
in their scheme of things. Hence, they conveniently forget
that we, the poor, need to eat to survive. I don’t want to
make any appeal to the finance minister for this year’s
Budget. I am sure he would turn a deaf ear to it.
‘Promote inclusive growth and boost
infrastructure’
DIPAK CHAKRABORT Y
‘I have not heard about the Budget’
‘I have no expectations from the finance
minister’
Sankar Karmakar
Autorickshaw driver
I don’t feel the urge to do or say anything these days. This
is especially true of things concerning India. As a kid, my
parents taught me to lead life the honest way. What can you
achieve with honesty these days? Nothing! Cheating and
P V R Murthy
Group finance director, Yash Birla Group
The proposal to set up a Financial Sector Legislative
Reforms Commission along with measures for strengthen-
ing existing banks would create a financial sector equipped
to cater to the requirements of a fast growing economy.
Dividend tax should be withdrawn to give impetus to the
share market. Broaden the service tax base further to bring
more categories into the tax net. Additional tax deduction
in investments must be given to individuals, which will
generate funds.
The Direct Tax Code to be introduced from April 2011
should be implemented as promised.
To get a robust growth in core industry, infrastructure
spread must cover power, coal, ports, aviation and roads.
