Exemptions in Budget 2016 are for essential needs: PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday defended in the Rajya Sabha exemptions in the Budget saying that these have been provided for various essential purposes, like a Rs 10,300 crore exception to promote pulses and vegetables.

Hitting out at Congress, he said the exemptions offered by past governments, including those supported by the party, had created a situation which he was finding hard to explain. " Aaj unhi ki safai mein hamara dum ukhad raha hai," he said.

The PM also referred to exemptions in the context of CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury's comments, wondering where the Left member had got his figures from. Yechury said he had got them from the Budget.

Other exemptions, Modi told the Upper House on Wednesday, included Rs 5,800 crore for sugar, something he said NCP member Sharad Pawar would approve. Then there was a Rs 19,120 crore exemption for industry in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand and the northeast. "Will we oppose this as well," he asked, urging the opposition to study the details to see who is being taxed and who let off.