“I seek the blessings of Lord Indra to bestow on us timely and bountiful monsoons, I would pray to Goddess Lakshmi as well.”
With these words, India’s Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, wiped his hands off the fate of the Indian middle class, and went on to bestow his and the Government’s largesse on the new age rajas and rani’s of India.
The UPA government’s budget for 2011 -2012 has dealt the final blow to the already bleeding with high prices and inflation middle class. The expectations of this huge but largely overlooked population of the country was neither high nor unaddresable, its expectations from the budget were simple, address the issue of hoarding and price stability, and a small measure of relief in the taxation structure by making the direct taxes more realistic and in tune with the times. The Finance Minister has turned a Nelson’s eye and ear to the pleas and expectations of the Indian Middle Class. Forget lessening their burden, he has only added to their woes by levying a tax on Medical care!!
The middle class, that is fighting to hold on its last shards of dignity now has to protect itself from sickness and ill health, for to fall sick and be admitted to a hospital will mean he will now have to sell his soul to pay for the current exorbitant cost of medical care plus the tax on healthcare. The Finance Ministers gift for the middle class!!!
Forget, the relief the Finance Minister has made the burden of the common Man, heavier still, a whopping 130 items of every use like tooth powder, spectacles, packaged foods etc have been taxed. Not only this, the new tax structure has impacted the already reaching the sky cost of education by making stationery more expensive.
But, all is not lost for the common man, in case he/she survives the strain of meeting ends meet and can afford the increased cost of healthcare, to reach the age of 60, he/she will get an IT exemption upto Rs 2.50 lakh. And if they can manage to stretch a little longer to reach the ripe old age of 80 years, he/she will get an IT exemption of 5 Lakhs!!! Needless to say that it is the monied class, which is above the daily fight for survival like the middle class, that can aspire to live upto 80 years and enjoy the Finance Minister’s largesse.
And what of the monied class, the Rajas and Rani’s of the emerging India, the Finance Minister has filled their stockings with gold, silver and precious stones. Not only have these become less expensive but the Finance Minister has given them more moolah to splurge on these luxuries, by reducing the surcharge on domestic companies by 2.5 %.
As for the celluloid kings, the Chopra’s, Johar’s, Bhatt’s etc. the Finance Minister has bestowed a windfall on them by exempting the countervailing duty (CVD) on jumbo rolls of cinematograph films of 400 feet and 1000 feet.
One needs to applaud the Finance Minister who has with his foresight and vision taken another step towards making India an attractive investment destination for the FII’s. So what, if in doing so he has sacrificed the interests of the common man. After all, history is made of tales of sacrifice and valour. Only in India’s case it is the valour of the Middle Class to carry on against all odds and its determination not to succumb to mass depression no matter what blows the political and administrative class rains on its battered backs, that is to be appreciated.
by Neera Kishore
courtesy Hindi Milap
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