Union Budget 2024-25
Contrary to the previous Budgets, it is quite appreciable to note nine priority items have been framed for focused attention and to ensure overall development. E-vouchers and financial support to students for a sum of up to ₹10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions and upgrading 1,000 ITIs as a hub and spoke model are novel steps.
Budgetary support for early completion of the Polavaram project, aid for a capital in Andhra Pradesh and other infra-related works under the A.P. Reorganisation Act will be a bonanza for the State. The announcements on large infrastructure projects in Bihar is another nod to a key coalition partner at the Centre.
The expectations that senior citizens had about relief on tax deducted at source on their interest income have been belied. The Budget remains quite silent on the railways sector, which is quite unusual and surprising.
R.V. Baskaran,
Chennai
The full Budget presented in Parliament yesterday is deeply disappointing. There was no mention of the Railways, especially with its safety record sullied by a trail of consequential accidents. The Budget also mirrors political partisanship as evident from the flagrant neglect of the non-BJP-ruled States. Incidentally, the present Budget justifies the need for a separate railway budget.
N. Sadasivan Pillai,
Guntakal, Andhra Pradesh
The Union Budget appears to disincentivise the old regime of taxation. The need is to link income-tax threshold as well as slabs to the Consumer Price Index so that exemptions will be automatic and realistic and not be subject to the whims of bureaucrats. Taxpayers should raise their voice against injustices.
A. Shreevas,
Chennai
The Budget is a huge disappointment, especially for government employees and pensioners. The income-tax structures, of the old and the new, can only lead to confusion. There is no mention of frozen DA. Small-scale savings and the interest earned by the common man on hard-earned savings of a lifetime need a thorough review.
The subject of medicines and taxation is another area that needs scanning.
Balasubramaniam Pavani,
Secunderabad
Driven by a compelling instinct of political survival, a much chastened Prime Minister has made the Union Finance Minister announce a flurry of disproportionately generous monetary help and projects to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
The poor whose real income has been falling and made worse by galloping food inflation, have been ignored. Equally conspicuous by its absence was any mention of a comprehensive plan for rail safety or a road map to meet the needs of a majority of rail passengers.
S.K. Choudhury,
Bengaluru
