The Budget this year
The sugar-coated Budget, for 2023-24, is a dark cloud over the working class and senior citizens.
The absence of any concrete relief in the form of 80C, in respect of savings, is an unpleasant aspect of the Budget. A sizeable increase in the deposit limit for the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and Monthly Income Account Scheme will not serve any purpose. These schemes are not attractive as the interest income is fully taxable. Senior citizens may not be in a position to invest their hard-earned savings in both schemes, thereby inviting payment of additional tax for the interest paid. The enhancement in the limit only has a negative impact as far as the savings culture is concerned.
P.S. Rajagopalan,
Chennai
I vividly recall a cartoon by R.K. Laxman (March 15, 1989), which is still relevant even today: “I don’t know. I didn’t read it and in any way you can say that the poor are let down, the salaried class is hit and it’s a sell out to the rich.”
The Finance Minister has planned the Budget well. But there is always room to oppose it.
A.P. Thiruvadi,
Chennai
Budget 2023 needs some applause as there does seem to be evidence of some thought having gone into the various allocations and benefits. The fretting and the fuming is always there whenever the Budget is presented annually by the Union Finance Ministers concerned. This has to be taken in one’s stride. Eventually, the stark fact is that the credit will go to the materfamilias in any household when she prunes the monthly family budget and cuts the coat according to the cloth.
Mani Natarajan,
Chennai
The slash in the budgetary allocation for MGNREGA is a blow to thousands of poor citizens who bank on this scheme. NREGA has been the only project to date which directly involves the poorest of the poor in rural India. Taking away what spells solace to them is not good for a socialist mixed economy like India.
Thomas Joseph Kunnath,
Thuruthy, Kerala
