02022025-LT-01.qxd 2/2/2025 1:07 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune NGT NOTICE TO GOVT, DEPTS ON AXING OF TREES FM’S SAREE HONOURS MADHUBANI ARTIST IN LUDHIANA, URMILA IMPRESSED ALL WITH HER PERSONA NGT has issued notice to respondentsto file responses at least week before next date of hearing through e-filing. P2 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanis often known for making statements with her sarees on Budget Day.P4 Charm of Rangeelagirl Urmila Matondkar remains the same, as it was when this film was shot in 1995. P4 » » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 21°C | MIN 9°C YESTERDAY MAX 21°C | MIN 9°C SUNSET SUNDAY 6.00 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 7:12 AM SUNDAY | 2 FEBRUARY 2025 | LUDHIANA Tax relief, capex boost, fiscal Mixed reaction from industry prudence, reforms bring cheer Manav Mander Tribune News Service As common man feels neglected, industrialists, self-employed and employees hail govt’s efforts to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, invigorate private sector investments Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 1 A big relief to the middle class by exempting annual income of up to Rs 12 lakh from income tax and rejigged tax slabs as part of what has been touted as the reformist Budget, hike in capital investments, focus on fiscal consolidation, infrastructure and outlining broad principles of Viksit Bharat to encompass 100 per cent good quality school education, access to high-quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare, hundred per cent skilled labour with meaningful employment and 70 per cent women in economic activities has brought cheers to the salaried, business class and homemakers in Ludhiana. Industrialists, self-employed, employees, women, students, farmers and lower, medium to high class in the state’s business and industrial capital have hailed the government’s efforts to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, invigorate private sector investments, help farmers, uplift household sentiments and enhance the spending power of the country’s rising middle class, announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Interim Union Budget for 2025-26 to Parliament on Saturday. However, the common man on the street found nothing lucrative or on offer for ones looking for some relief from the rising inflation,notevenallowingtwosquare meals to many, in her eighth consecutive Budget presented by Sitharaman and the first one of Prime Minister Narendra Modiled Union Government’s third consecutive term. A cross-section of residents from different segments of society to whom The Tribune spoke to elicit Budget reaction, welcomed no income tax payable for income of salaried individuals up to Rs 12.75 lakh under the new tax regime, besides a host of other measures such as proposal to rationalise tax deduction at source (TDS) by reducing the number of rates and thresholds above which the TDS is deducted, reforms related to rent payments, remittances, higher education, sale of goods and decriminalisation of offenders. The allocation of Rs 11.21 lakh crore towards capital expenditure (capex), marking a 0.9 per cent increase from Residents watch Budget speech on TV screens in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN NO SPECIAL FUNDS FOR STATE HEALTH SECTOR UNDERFUNDED “Another electoral budget and it seems the BJP has again prioritised the upcoming Assembly poll. Disheartening to see that no special funds were allocated for revival of Punjab’s finances, which is struggling with a severe debt crisis, currently standing at ~3.12 lakh crore. Instead of forcing more on improving standard of education, providing more funds to improve the transport sector, focusing on improving rural infra, making budgetary provisions for IT sector to give jobs to our youth, the FM chose to cut down allocations in these sectors. Misplaced priorities.” — Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Ludhiana MP & Punjab “The health sector remains underfunded, with its allocation still below 2 per cent of the total Budget outlay, which is inadequate to meet the target of 2.5 per cent of the GDP as health expenditure set in the National Health Policy 2017. A recent SBI report suggests the nation needs to spend 5 per cent of the GDP on healthcare to address needs of the masses. As per a study published in The Indian Journal of Public Health, the country requires 1,38,000 new doctors annually to meet the growing healthcare demand. However, the planned increase of 75,000 medical education seats over the next five years falls short of fulfilling this requirement.” — Sanjeev Arora, RS MP Congress president TRANFORMATIVE MEASURES NOTHING FOR FARMERS “The Budget presented by the FM under the visionary leadership of PM Narendra Modi introduces transformative measures to propel the nation’s growth with major tax relief for the middle class, healthcare advancements, agriculture support, boost to manufacturing and exports, food processing industry and railway infrastructure.” — Ravneet Singh Bittu, Union MoS for Railways “Extremely unfortunate that the Budget has nothing for farmers. The focus is on pollbound states of Bihar and Assam but the farmers, who were promised a legal guarantee on the MSP, have got nothing. The farmers, who are now again sitting on a dharna, have been ignored.” — Harsimrat Kaur Badal, SAD MP current fiscals’ allocation and proposed development measures spanning 10 broad areas focusing on poor, youth, farmers and women were also lauded by the majority. They, however, lamented that the Modi-led Centre has again ignored the ‘aam aadmi’, who was finding it difficult to make both ends meet due to skyrocketing prices of essentials. Chaman Lal, a motor mechanic operating near the bus stand, quipped: “Budget has nothing to improve our lives as we are again left to fend for ourselves with no relief offered to the poor and marginalised sections on the street, who are on the verge of extinction.” “Spurring agricultural growth and productivity; building rural prosperity and resilience, taking everyone together on an inclusive growth path, boosting manufacturing and furthering Make in India, supporting MSMEs, enabling employment-led development, investing in people, economy and innovation, securing energy supplies, promoting exports, and nurturing innovation are set to give muchneeded boost to main sectors and different sections of society,” said a leading financial analyst, Arzoo Singh. An educationist, Bharat Kumar, said: “Infrastructure expansion at five new IITs to facilitate 6,500 more students, 10,000 new medical seats and a big Artificial Intel- ligence push will lift the education sector with over Rs 1.28 lakh crore allocation for 2025-26, higher than the revised estimate of Rs 1.14 lakh crore in current fiscal.” “The Budget brought a much-needed relief for the middle class with no tax on income of up to Rs 12.75 lakh to cut the income tax rates in the new tax regime,” felt a tax consultant, Radhika Sood. A homemaker, Manpreet Kaur, said: “The new tax regime has come as a big relief to the middle class, which will help meet our daily needs.” “Keeping the capex for railways unchanged at Rs 2.52 lakh crore has dashed the continued on page 3 Hike in kisan credit card loan limit ‘cruel joke’ Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 1 The farming community has felt totally ignored in the Union Budget announced on Saturday. Farmers have termed the increase of kisan credit card loan limit to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 3 lakh as a ‘cruel joke’. HS Lakhowal, president of Bharti Kisan Union (Lakhowal) said instead of waiving off loans of farmers, the Centre was announcing increase in the credit limit of Kisan Credit Card loan. “Farmers are already neck deep in loan and they should be taken out of this web. The government has neither announced the MSP on crops nor any package announced for the farming community of the state. The government, as usual, has given a stepmotherly treatment to Punjab,” he said. Harmeet Singh Kadian, president of Bharti Kisan Union (Kadiyan) said the government should adopt a progressive approach towards agriculture but sadly nothing was announced for research and development in agriculture. “Announcement was made to launch Mission for Aatmanirbharta in pulses with special focus on tur, urad and masoor to improve domestic pulses production but no separate budget has been kept for the mission. We were expecting announcement of agro processing unit in the state which could have help uplift farmers but to our disappointment no such announcement was made,” he said. He said increasing the kisan credit card loan limit to Rs 5 lakh is so meagre. “The limit should have been increased to Rs 10 lakh. If a farmer wants to buy some machinery for stubble management or otherwise, at least Rs 10 lakh limit is required,” he said. Another farmer, Sukhwinder, from Khanna said the government never pays attention to farmers’ demands. “No MSP for any crop was announced and no package was given for Punjab farmers. The growers are already reeling under debt and they need to be taken out from the cycle of wheat and paddy. Emphasis should be laid on agro processing for development of the community,” he said. c m y b Ludhiana, February 1 The Union Budget has evoked mixed response from the city’s industry. On the one side, it provided a boost to the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector by significantly raising the thresholds for capital investment and turnover criteria for classification as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises while on the other side these units are disappointed over non-withdrawal of Section 43B regarding their payments within specified time which is affecting them. “Instead of enhancement in Income Tax limit, there was a dire need to make policies that could enhance income levels of citizens,” said Badish Jindal, president, World MSME Forum. In India where 67% MSMEs have turnover below Rs 10 lakh and 99% of these have turnover below Rs 1 crore, the increase in definition of the MSME turnover from 250 crore to 500 crore shows the intention of the government to give benefits to corporates. These 1 per cent MSMEs having higher turnover will grab 95 per cent of the benefits of the MSMEs, Jindal said. The decrease in import duty of bicycle from 35 per cent to 20 per cent and furniture from 25 per cent to 20 per cent will impact its manufacturers in India, he added. World MSME Forum has termed Budget as a damp squib and just old wine in new bottle Narinder Bhamra, president of the Fasteners Manufacturer Association of India said not much had been announced for MSMEs but the government could have taken steps towards formation of steel regulator, reduction in import duties on machinery to boost manufacturing, provisions of social security for tax payers, etc. Sonu Nilibar, president of the Punjab Cloth Merchants Association, expressed disappointment over the Union Budget as no relief had been given on 45-day payment rule. “The government ignored MSMEs’ plea to amend the 45-day payment rule, leaving small businesses struggling with cash flow issues,” he said. Pankaj Sharma, president, ATIU, commenting upon the Budget announced today said: “Budget 2025 has nothing much to offer to the lower class and the middle class and it seems the government has only upcoming Bihar elections in mind while finalising the same.” Meanwhile, the Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation (FICO) welcomed the revision of the income tax slab and exempted income up to 12 lakh for individuals. Also, it hailed the revision in the definition of MSMEs. Gurmeet Singh Kular, president, FICO, said there should have been freight subsidy introduced for north Indian exporters who were far away from seaports so that they should also be able to maintain competitiveness with those who are located near the same. There is an urgent need to prevent cartelisation of prices of raw material, especially in steels. The industry wanted a regulatory committee to be formed to curb abnormal fluctuations in raw material and do hand holding of the MSMEs but it has not been mentioned in the Budget, said industry representatives. Except for the I-T limit which will boost the GDP there is not much for the industry and it seems the FM has tried to project it as a populist and a common man’s budget keeping in mind the upcoming state elections, said Anil Sachdeva from the ATIU. “It’s a welcome step that the top 50 tourist destinations will be developed in collaboration with states and I hope that Ludhiana must be among the destinations as the new international airport is also coming up. The city will grow maximum once its tourist flow rises,” said Sanjay Goel, former director of Ludhiana Smart City Limited. 1.9% allocation for health ‘not enough’ Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 1 Reacting to the Health Budget, Dr Arun Mitra, president, Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), said the allocation to health is far from meeting people’s health needs. “The allocation for health is only Rs 98,311 crore rupees out of a total budget of Rs 50.65 lakh crore rupees. It means health has been allocated only 1.9% of the total budget. If we calculate the total amount of the Budget for our population of 146 crore, it comes to be only Rs 673 per person. It does not meet even the inflation during this period. It is a cruel joke with the people as we are among the lowest in health indicators and our public health spending is also among the lowest in the world,” he said. Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman, general secretary, IDPD, said when the Finance Minister said they would increase seats in medical colleges but did not explain lack of faculty for the same. Already ghost faculty has been reported in medical colleges and on that basis, sub-standard medical colleges with poor quality education are being opened.