Finance Minister has presented the Union budget to the Parliament. Financial and economic experts will come out with long commentaries on the budget but the common man will look for what concessions and relief the budget brings him and more especially how the ordinary housewife will feel it. That will be known at its proper time but we can sum up some of the broad outlines of the budget in the totality of financial status before we move to what has been provided to the State. An additional Rs 5,000 crore is allocated to the country’s defence budget, increasing it by over 12 per cent in 2014-15 over the previous year even as it opened the defence sector to increased foreign investment.
FM has proposed to open up the closely controlled sectors of defence and insurance to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). He has also eased up FDI in construction by reducing the minimum built-up area. There is proposal to raise Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the insurance sector to 49% from the present 26% to encourage foreign investments and improve the insurance penetration in the country.
Salaried classes get a relief by way of income tax sops by raising threshold exemption and investment limits up to 2. 5 lakh rupees. Cigarettes, tobacco, pan-masala and aerated drinks will be costlier while CRT TVs used by poor, LCD and LED TV panels of less than 19-inches will be cheaper through cuts in customs duties.
FM ruled out resorting to retrospective taxation. Exemption on housing loan on self-occupied property is raised from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh. Education cess of 3 per cent will continue. The total expenditure estimates stand at Rs 17, 94,892 crore. Gross tax receipts will be Rs 13,64,524 crore, of which Centre’s share will Rs 9,77,258 crore. Non-tax revenues for current financial year will be Rs 2,12,505 crore and capital receipts other than borrowings will be Rs 73,952 crore.
The budget pegs the fiscal deficit for the current fiscal at 4.1 per cent of the GDP and 3.6 and 3 per cent in 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively
The budget has brought a big cheer to the people in J&K State. It appears that Modi Government has full understanding of the aspirations as well as deprivations of the state. In the budget it has tried to address some of these matters. Jammu will get one IIT along with four other in other states raising the total number of IITs to 20 in the country. This will be a great incentive to the students of engineering branch in our state. But the Finance Minister has been even handed in providing incentives to other two regions of the State. Pashmina industry is a joint industry for Ladakh and Kashmir regions. While the pashmina wool is obtained from special goats in Himalayan ranges of Ladakh, the finished product is produced in Kashmir. By earmarking a sum of Rs 50 crores for Pashmina Promotion Programme and other handicrafts in Kashmir and Ladakh it is expected to earn 3000 crore rupees. Apart from having the monopoly of pashmina production, Ladakh will get an Ultra Mega Solar Power Project along with such projects for other states for which 500 crore rupees have been earmarked. This will supplement power position in Ladakh and also reduce burden of building more power generating units in that area. A big boost to the tourism industry in the State will come from establishing the centrally sponsored Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering in Gulmarg. Establishment of this institute would mean that many more areas of mountaineering and skiing will be identified and interested tourists can have new and refreshing experience of mountaineering in the Himalayan regions.
In our state, we have a serious problem much more different than what may be obtaining in other states. It is the problem of refugees, displaced persons, migrants and migratory labourers. All this has happened owing to the turmoil and disturbance caused by external elements in the State. We have nearly three and half lakh displaced persons from the valley and then we have thousands of displaced persons from the border areas. The Finance Minister has approved a package of Rs 500 crore for Kashmiri migrants for “rebuilding their lives”. The package under ‘Relief and Rehabilitation of J&K migrants has undergone three-fold increase from Rs 151.87 crores in 2013-14 to Rs 660 crores in 2014-15. Of this, Rs 500 crores have been earmarked for Kashmiri migrants and remaining Rs 160 crores for granting relief to the border migrants. But here is a lapse. The 1947 war refugees from PoK and other parts of Punjab who had fled the attack of tribesmen and came to Jammu and sought refuge do not figure anywhere in the financial support category of the Finance Minister. This is unjust. In fact there should have been a promise for their permanent resettlement and support for the same as in the case of other categories of refugees to settle their lives. We hope an amendment will be brought in that takes care of these lakhs of refugees.
The Finance Minister has hinted at installing rail network to the border areas in the state. Only two days back the Railway Minister while presenting the Rail Budget did speak about improving and upgrading and completing the rail link projects in the pipeline but he did not speak about network. It is presumed that the Finance Minister has the security concern of border areas in his mind and as such he is thinking of extending the railways to the LoC and IB in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. That will be a day of great rejoicing when the Railways announce the plan of rail network in the state.
For the first time the Finance Minister has announced Centre’s support to the establishment of stadia in the State in order to give big boost to sports and athletics in the State. For want of stadia our talented youth who could develop into good players lose the chance. This is a welcome step and the youth of the State will be happy with it.
In overall estimation, we find that there is not any significant hike in edibles and other necessaries of life though we would have wanted some relief from rising prices. But keeping in mind the developmental programmes enunciated in the budget for the state, we feel happy that the State will move forward with the support of the Centre. It is gratifying that the Finance Minister is fully aware of the needs of the state and has projected these to a large extent.
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