“Those with an annual salary of upto Rs. 5 Lakh will not have to pay income tax”, said Union Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal while presenting the interim budget in the parliament today. "The government has made a historic plan called the PM-Kisan programme. Those small farmers who have less than two acres will get a support of Rs. 6,000," Mr Goyal said. "It will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of farmers in three instalments of Rs. 2,000,"
After the budget announcement, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, praised the step of the tax relief for the middle class but called the BJP-led government's last budget as 'fantasy language' and said that 'castles are being constructed in the air' by the government. Talking to media outside the Parliament, he said that the exercise has turned out to be a 'damp squib'. “Rs 6000 in income support for farmers boils down to Rs 500 per month. Is that supposed to enable them to live with the honour and dignity?” he added.
Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said the government's interim budget, presented today by Union Minister Piyush Goyal, will have implications on the national elections due by May.
Singh is widely recognised for the economic reforms which he had announced in 1991 when he was the finance minister. He said the government has not worked out the expenditure in the interim budget.
In the 10-point vision document there is nothing about education or jobs. Because if they say anything about the jobs, young people of the nation will dismiss it as “pakodanomics” said senior Congress Leader, P Chidambaram.