New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) Opposition members alleged on Wednesday that the government has not addressed the concerns plaguing the middle class and also criticised it for levying the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all daily-use items.
During the general discussion on the interim Union budget for 2024-25 in the Rajya Sabha, Congress member Imran Pratapgarhi said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed to convert train coaches to Vande Bharat, but the government does not want to utter a single word on the basic issue of security in the railways.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his speech on Wednesday, spoke about creating a new middle class and questioned the treatment being meted out to the “old” middle class.
“How are you behaving with the old middle class? you are waiving loans of rich people, industrialists but imposing the GST on items of their daily needs. You make films tax-free but you cannot waive the fees of competitive exams for students. You have no relation with the middle class,” Pratapgarhi said.
He said leave aside petrol and diesel, the GST has been imposed on everything, including rice, flour and milk.
“These people make films tax-free but levy the GST even on shrouds and then talk about the poor,” the Congress leader said.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Santanu Sen claimed that the budget favours corporate entities.
He said according to the budget, the gross tax revenue for financial year 2024-25 is Rs 30 lakh crore, of which corporate tax is only 26 per cent.
“In 2013-14, it was 34 per cent. This means the contribution of large companies to the country’s tax share has declined by 8 per cent,” Sen said.
He said in 2013-14, the top 1 per cent of income-tax payers earned 17 per cent of the total income and in just eight years, it has become 23 per cent.
“Real wages for casual labourers have remained stagnant for four years and there has been a rise in the number of workers who rely on agriculture,” Sen said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member Fauzia Khan said according to India’s consumer economy 360 survey, the income of the richest has increased by 20 per cent, the income of the middle rich has gone up by 20 per cent, but the income of the middle class, the lower middle class and the poor has reduced by 20 per cent.
Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Prakash Javadekar said leaders from Karnataka are staging a protest at Jantar Mantar and leaders from Kerala are going to protest on the pretext that the Centre has not given them money.
He said Kerala has been given money by the Centre and the amount that has not been allocated to the southern state is due to the non-submission of utilisation certificates.
Javadekar said the government has brought in accountability and ended corruption.
BJP member Pabitra Margherita said there is communal harmony in Assam under the Modi government and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was a flop in the northeastern state.
DMK member R Girirajan, IUML’s Abdul Wahab, AIADMK’s M Thambidurai, BJP’s D P Vats and Sangeeta Yadav also participated in the discussion. PTI PRS MJH RC
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