BUSINESS

BJP wants Budget to benefit the poor

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
February 21, 2007 13:42 IST
Bhartiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh has dashed off a letter to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh urging him to take strong measures to control inflation and rising prices.

Singh has suggest a 27-point programme to be implemented so that the benefits of the union budget to be presented on Feburary 28 by finance minister P Chidambaram could reach the poor and needy.

Rajnath Singh has asked the finance minister to offer loans to the farmers at 4 per cent, though when the National Democratic Alliance government was in power the farmers were given loans at 16 per cent. It has also asked for a package for farmers.

The party has suggested raising of the limit of the personal income tax and proposed that either two or three tax slabs at lower percentage should be adopted to make the tax calculation easy and lessen the burden on the individuals.

"The interest rates should be controlled and tax benefits on housing loans should be raised to Rs 2 lakh on original installment and Rs 2.5 lakh on repayment of interest. The party demands that the interest on Provident funds and Employees Provident Funds be raised upwards especially when the banks are giving 11 per cent interest on fixed deposits," the letter pointed out.

The BJP wants the government to concentrate only on major services and service tax to be stablised. There is a need to review service tax on the housing societies.

"We would like to draw your attention to the reality that when on one side the economy is booming, on the other hand the life of Aam Aadmi is becoming more and more hard and difficult. Thousands of farmers committing suicide. Inflation and increasing prices are causing concern. Besides, water shortage, power cuts continue to affect the people. Hence there is a need to take strong corrective measures to streamline the economy and provide relief to the common man," Singh said in letter to Dr Manmohan Singh.

Budget 2007: Complete Coverage

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

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