Budget 2015: I were a budget expert, I'd just want free stuff, says Anuvab Pal
In no other culture does entire country wait to hear finance minister with as much anticipation as if it were Apple announcing the iPhone 12 S, says Anuvab Pal.
Updated:
By ANUVAB PAL
If I were a budget expert, I'd just want free stuff. Like free Wi-Fi, free shoes, free downloads of Hollywood movies. Wait, all I have to do is move to Delhi and I think the AAP government is already doing all that.
Jokes aside, I'm not a budget expert. I'm a comedian. Which, if you listen to actual budget experts, is pretty much the same thing. I enjoy the budget weeks. They are mad. In no other culture does an entire country wait to hear a finance minister with as much anticipation as if it were Apple announcing the iPhone 12 S.
What experts want every year from a budget is about the same as when we used to watch Sachin go out to bat and get disappointed when he didn't score a hundred made entirely of sixes and fours.
Then there's the public. When people say they have expectations of the budget, they are always personal. The 'greater good' or 'nationally important even though hard for the consumer' are not ideas people understand.
The poor Finance Minister, I imagine is under a blanket this week not watching and reading anything and shouting, "Just leave me alone. I am not Santa Claus. If you want to be economically better, work harder, or be a cleverer human being, I can't just give you money, man. Someone get me a Horlicks."
And the question of 'Will this be a great budget?', the financial media asks, is always a loaded one. They don't mean will farmers love this budget, will actors, will drivers, nurses, airline pilots?, i.e., a cross section of the working nation. No. What they are really asking is, "Will businessmen love this budget?" so they can get a bunch of CEOs in the studio in the evening to say, "We love this budget."
The words that are always thrown out are the same. Will this budget be pro reform, pro growth, big bang, bang bang, suggesting that previous budgets weren't or were deficient, in their prerequisite banging.
Reform apparently should be immediate, like changing into a new set of clothes, ignoring that reform is perhaps an incremental tedious process balancing all sides. And every year, like Sachin carrying the weight of the whole team in the old days — it is all up to this one — this very one, that will solve everything. One media channel said, "This budget will blow other budgets away."
I didn't realize past and present budgets were battling each other.
If I were a budget expert, I'd just want free stuff. Like free Wi-Fi, free shoes, free downloads of Hollywood movies. Wait, all I have to do is move to Delhi and I think the AAP government is already doing all that.
Jokes aside, I'm not a budget expert. I'm a comedian. Which, if you listen to actual budget experts, is pretty much the same thing. I enjoy the budget weeks. They are mad. In no other culture does an entire country wait to hear a finance minister with as much anticipation as if it were Apple announcing the iPhone 12 S.
What experts want every year from a budget is about the same as when we used to watch Sachin go out to bat and get disappointed when he didn't score a hundred made entirely of sixes and fours.
Then there's the public. When people say they have expectations of the budget, they are always personal. The 'greater good' or 'nationally important even though hard for the consumer' are not ideas people understand.
The poor Finance Minister, I imagine is under a blanket this week not watching and reading anything and shouting, "Just leave me alone. I am not Santa Claus. If you want to be economically better, work harder, or be a cleverer human being, I can't just give you money, man. Someone get me a Horlicks."
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And the question of 'Will this be a great budget?', the financial media asks, is always a loaded one. They don't mean will farmers love this budget, will actors, will drivers, nurses, airline pilots?, i.e., a cross section of the working nation. No. What they are really asking is, "Will businessmen love this budget?" so they can get a bunch of CEOs in the studio in the evening to say, "We love this budget."
The words that are always thrown out are the same. Will this budget be pro reform, pro growth, big bang, bang bang, suggesting that previous budgets weren't or were deficient, in their prerequisite banging.
Reform apparently should be immediate, like changing into a new set of clothes, ignoring that reform is perhaps an incremental tedious process balancing all sides. And every year, like Sachin carrying the weight of the whole team in the old days — it is all up to this one — this very one, that will solve everything. One media channel said, "This budget will blow other budgets away."
I didn't realize past and present budgets were battling each other.
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The limit of reduction of health insurance premium was enhanced from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000. For senior citizens this limit has been increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.
"For senior citizen above the age of 80 years, not eligible to take health insurance, deduction is allowed for Rs 30,000 toward medical expenditure. Deduction limit of Rs 60,000 on expenditure on account of specified diseases is enhanced to Rs 80,000 in the case of senior citizens," Jaitley said.
Additional deduction of Rs 25,000 is allowed for differently-abled persons, increasing the limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. It is also proposed to increase the limit of deduction from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh in case of severe disability.
Jaitley also proposed to provide that investment in Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme will be eligible for deduction under section 80C of the income-tax and any payment from the scheme shall not be liable to tax.
Limit on deduction on account of contribution to a pension fund and the new pension scheme is proposed to be increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.
Additional deduction of Rs 50,000 will be allowed for contribution to the new pension scheme u/s 80 CCD increasing from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.
"For senior citizen above the age of 80 years, not eligible to take health insurance, deduction is allowed for Rs 30,000 toward medical expenditure. Deduction limit of Rs 60,000 on expenditure on account of specified diseases is enhanced to Rs 80,000 in the case of senior citizens," Jaitley said.
Additional deduction of Rs 25,000 is allowed for differently-abled persons, increasing the limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. It is also proposed to increase the limit of deduction from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh in case of severe disability.
Jaitley also proposed to provide that investment in Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme will be eligible for deduction under section 80C of the income-tax and any payment from the scheme shall not be liable to tax.
Limit on deduction on account of contribution to a pension fund and the new pension scheme is proposed to be increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.
Additional deduction of Rs 50,000 will be allowed for contribution to the new pension scheme u/s 80 CCD increasing from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.
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