Image for Pranab offers Rs 400

New Delhi, April 29: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday announced changes in his tax proposals that will benefit coffee growers, new hospitals as well as the construction sector, and made it clear that the new service tax on air travel would not exceed Rs 100 for domestic

passengers and Rs 500 for international ones. And even the Rs 100 charged for domestic air travel would not apply for all journeys to and from the Northeast.
Mr Mukherjee said these concessions would cost the exchequer up to Rs 300-400 crores a year. He did not, however, touch the demand for a rollback in the prices of petroleum products and fertilisers.
Demolishing the Opposition’s accusations that his Budget was for the “khaas aadmi” and not the “aam aadmi”, the finance minister said while anyone could criticise his efforts, it could only be at the cost of “losing sight” of external and internal economic realities.
Replying to the 11-hour-long debate in the Lok Sabha on the Finance Bill, which was later passed by voice vote, Mr Mukherjee said: “I agree that the role of the Opposition is to criticise and expose the government. Many of you, while participating in the debate, went on to say that I heeded only the rich people and ignored the poor. But you lost sight of external and internal economic realities.”
Mentioning that he had provided two stimulus packages involving fiscal concessions last year, as part of the interim budget, the finance minister pointed out that he had to take a call on withdrawing them. “I found the time was ripe, as the economy has been reverting back to normal, but with high inflation. So I decided to partially roll back the duty concessions given on petroleum products,” he said.
He added that given the rise in crude prices in the international market, it was difficult to continue underpricing the products. “I had the option either to go with increasing petroleum prices through the administrative price mechanism or to increase duty. I opted for the latter as resources generated by it will be shared with the state according to the 13th Finance Commission recommendations,” he added.
Referring to the Opposition describing his Budget as meant for the “khaas aadmi”, Mr Mukherjee said if the Opposition did not want to see nine crore kisan cardholders, increased allocations for NREGA, rural infrastructure, SSA and mid-day meals, then “you are free to dub the Budget as you want”.
Later, when the finance minister finished his speech, the BJP-led NDA walked out of the House protesting that none of the points raised by its members had been addressed. After a few minutes, the entire Left bloc also walked out over the denial of their demand for a rollback in petroleum and urea prices.
But interestingly, unlike on the day Mr Mukherjee had presented the Budget in February, the BSP, SP and RJD did not follow the Left this time. This amply demonstrated how the ruling party had successfully created cracks in the Opposition between the time the Budget was presented and its passage by the House.

Age Correspondent