Budget Blues

Finance Minister P Chidambaram was the man of the day on the 29th Feb. '08. He knew he had to keep in mind the coming general elections and present a budget to please all. One must admit, that the man is an expert at it.

All the news channels had experts to analyse and voice their opinions. Of course, the public on the street also had their share of the glare.

Going deeper into it, a couple of things which gnaws me is being overlooked by most. It is not likely to affect anyone in the near future.

Firstly, Rs. 6000 crore waiver of loans to farmers. Who or from where would this amount come from?
While I fully empathise with the farmers, I doubt if this would be a permanent solution.
How are they going to identify each of the farmer and pay off his debt? Has any plan been formulated ?If not, in this pre election year, it is sure to be misused in the hands of the politicians, corporators and local panchayat heads.

One need to understand as to why a farmer takes loan - for buying seeds and fertilisers.Would it therefore not be a better idea to have NGOs in local areas to assess the quantity and kind of seed requirement and let then distribute it. It is better to give in kind than in cash. Thereafter at harvest, make the farmers repay in the form of seeds for the next season A part of the harvest may also be bartered for the fertilizers for the next year.

Another probable solution is to form a co-operative society of the farmers like the Amul.
At least you would make the farmers self sufficient.

The second one is the income tax. This again would benefit the salaried class, a select urban population No doubt more spending power is a boost for the economy but at the same time, more two/three wheelers and cars is more pollution and traffic chaos.

I am a working women myself, but I still don't understand why they need to give a higher tax exemption limit for the women. We get the same pay as the men then why different tax structure?

There is a huge primany deficit and no one knows how this would be taken care of. Of course, that is the responsibility of the next Finance Minister.
Otherwise, this year's budget has nothing very interesting. No criticisms or protests.It was more or less on the expected lines.