By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun 5 Feb: As part of BJP’s budget discussion programme organised in 50 cities of the country, former Union Minister and senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad addressed intellectuals of Dehradun at a hotel here today. Prasad talked in detail about the positive changes that had come in the country after 2014. He asserted that, as against Rs 10 lakh crore in 2017-18, today Rs 14 lakh crore income tax collection is being achieved and the number of taxpayers has also increased continuously to reach 6 lakh 85 thousand till December 2022. Trusting Modi’s appeal, the country is paying taxes honestly to an honest government. He also claimed that every penny of the tax collected is being spent honestly towards development of the country and the whole country trusted the government.
Prasad said the IMF had estimated India’s growth to be 6.8 despite the world economy continuing to slow down due to the Covid epidemic and the Ukraine war. Former Union Minister said that in the budget for the coming year, a provision of Rs 2 lakh crores had been made for the ration of 80 crore poor people. An allocation of Rs 20 lakh crore was made for the agriculture sector so that new technology, training and organic products could be strengthened. The small farmer of Uttarakhand would definitely get its benefit. Similarly, Rs 63,000 crore has been provided for digitalisation in the cooperative sector. Anna Yojana for millet production would prove to be a boon for the agriculture of the state like Uttarakhand. The farmer here would produce more traditional products in the form of coarse grains, and it would be responsibility of the government to take the produce to the world. Prasad said a maximum amount of Rs 10 lakh crores had been provided in the budget for infrastructure in the country, which would definitely benefit Uttarakhand in rail, road and other sectors. He said, today, 33 kilometres of roads are being built every day, electricity had reached every village and record railway tracks were being laid daily, for which a rail budget of Rs 2.04 lakh crore had been provided. He said, the Modi government, working on the motto of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, had taken care of mothers and daughters in the budget, for which they had been given the highest interest of 7.5 per cent in savings schemes. Similarly, under the Skill India platform scheme for the youth, 47 lakh youth would be given funds under the stipend for the next 3 years for on-the-job training. Under the Vishwakarma scheme, help would also be given to artisans, artists and people associated with small scale industries. The Modi government had increased the tax exemption on deposits of senior citizens from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh, along with the income tax exemption on the amount received on retirement had also been increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. He said, by increasing the income tax slab from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, the Modi government had given a big relief to the middle class.
Earlier, welcoming Ravi Shankar Prasad, party state president Mahendra Bhatt said that his contribution in the field of politics and law in the country was indelible. He said, today, every time the mobile phone rings anywhere in the remote villages of the state, the contribution of Ravi Shankar Prasad, the architect of the telecom revolution, would be remembered.
Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi said it was a matter of good luck that the gathering today had the opportunity to understand the nuances of the budget with a learned politician like Ravi Shankar Prasad. Cabinet Minister Dhan Singh Rawat, Cantt MLA Savita Kapoor, Rajpur MLA Khajan Das, Party State Vice President Mukesh Koli, State Treasurer Puneet Mittal, State Media Incharge Manveer Singh Chauhan, Vishwas Dabur, State spokesperson Vinod Suyal, Madhu Bhatt, Honey Pathak, state co-media in-charge Rajendra Negi, Vinay Goyal and many party officials were present in the programme.
