"Every State Benefits...": Minister On "Discriminatory" Budget Charge

Union Minister Hardeep Puri on Tuesday dismissed the opposition's charge that the Budget 2024 was "discriminatory" and handed out special treatment to states run by supporting parties. "Every state in the country benefits from the central government schemes," he said in an exclusive interview with NDTV.

"I want to say that they (opposition) should read the Budget very carefully. They should also hear what the Finance Minister said. When you talk about Purvodaya, that is for the eastern (region), Bihar is not the only state in the east, there are other states in the east which will benefit. Now in the case of Bihar, it's not about problems arising inside the state but also problems arising from Nepal. So if the central government helps Bihar vis-a-vis trying to solve the problem of flooding in Nepal, how is that discrimination against other states? So many states have benefitted from the central assistance. I could drop calculations for you how every state in the country benefits from the central government schemes, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas said.

Purvodaya is a plan for the development of the eastern region.

The INDIA bloc parties on Tuesday decided that they will protest in Parliament and outside over "discrimination" against the opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget. All Congress Chief Ministers and DMK boss and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will also be boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting scheduled for July 27 to protest the Budget.

Mr Puri appealed to "all his friends in the opposition" to "read the Budget and the related Budget document, the annexure, and you will come to the conclusion that you have to pick on some better point for criticism than this because you will be laughed out of court if you only go on harping on this".

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rebutted the allegations of the Opposition parties, saying "Rs 1.5 lakh crore assistance" has been promised for all states in the Budget.

"We get proposals for all states and try to finance their projects following due process," she said.

If some of the energy and security issues can be sorted out through small (nuclear) reactors, that's a very good area for the government and the states and the private sector to explore. So, we should welcome that development.

Hardeep Puri also listed out proposals in the Budget that would benefit the middle class amid criticism from some sections that not much relief was given to them.

"The issues of the middle class are addressed in many ways. If you address the issue of urban transport, that benefits the middle class. If you do Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana of 1 crore houses in an urban sector that again helps the middle class, including some below the middle class. If you build more airports, it helps the middle class. If you are spending 11.1 lakh crore on capital expenditure that is increasing by 30 per cent every year, again you are helping the middle class," he said/

"The tax element is one that gets a lot of focus, people say relief should be more but there is relief. For instance, the slab which was for Rs 6-9 lakh has now become Rs 7-10 lakh and Rs 3-6 lakh has become 3-7 lakh, so there is relief. If you simplify the TDS for instance, if you simplify the GST slab, it helps the traders. Study the Budget in its totality, look at the provisions, see how each of these provisions works out, and you will get a pretty good idea of how it is producing a feel-good factor," he added.

Ms Sitharaman on Tuesday announced a marginal income tax relief for the middle class, by raising standard deduction - a flat deduction from the total salary earned by an employee in a year before calculating the applicable income tax rate - by 50 per cent to Rs 75,000 and tweaking tax slabs for taxpayers opting for the new income tax regime.

This will lead to taxpayers under the new tax regime - which offers lower rates of taxes but permits limited deductions and exemptions - saving up to Rs 17,500 in tax annually, she said.

Minister Puri also praised the proposals on job creation, and programmes on re-skilling and internship: "It's a very innovative programme. Apart from the announcement of creating 4.1 lakh crore jobs, you are also giving 1 crore of our youngsters an internship with a stipend of Rs 5,000 a month in 500 of our biggest companies. Now the very exposure for a youngster in a top-class company itself is an education."

Ms Sitharaman in her seventh straight budget, besides providing Rs 2 lakh crore provided over a five-year period for schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth, made a provision of Rs 1.48 lakh crore for education, employment and skilling.