Parliament has passed the
Finance Bill, 2021 with the Rajya Sabha returning it to Lok Sabha today.
With this, Parliament has completed all the budgetary exercise.
Replying to a discussion on the Finance Bill, 2021, Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman said the NDA rule has provided corruption free
governance and brought Indian economy out of policy paralysis and
fragile five. She alleged that economy was mismanaged under UPA rule and
Narendra Modi government had got legacy of high inflation which has
been checked. Mrs Sitharaman also said NPA has brought down to around 8
lakh 99 thousand crore rupees by March 2020. Talking about GST, the
Minister said GST compensation due to states prior to COVID has all been
paid. She informed that 30 thousand crore rupees of GST compensation
will be released to states this month.
Bill doesn't envisage any increase in taxation particularly in direct
taxes and income taxes. She also elaborated several measures taken to
provide relief to the common man during the COVI-19 pandemic. When the
Finance Minister alleged that the West Bengal government has deprived
farmers of benefits under the central government’s PM Kisan Samman
Nidhi scheme, the House witnessed heated arguments between the treasury
bench and TMC members.
Earlier, initiating the discussion, Dipendra Hooda of Congress alleged
that Indian economy is in a bad shape due to wrong policy of NDA
government. He said the policy adopted before COVID-19 has worsened the
economic situation during the pandemic.
The Congress leader said, during COVID period the gap between the poor
and the affluent has increased in the country. Mr. Hooda also attacked
the government over rising prices of petrol and diesel and criticized
the centre for turning a blind eye to the hardships faced by people due
to price rise. The Congress leader questioned the centre over the issue
of unemployment. Mr Hooda raised the issue of farmers' protest and
questioned the government's claim of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.
Participating in the discussion, Sushil Modi of BJP complimented the
government’s decision to not impose any new tax on the people in the
budget. Mr Modi also highlighted several measures taken in the Bill to
ease the tax burden. Talking about taxes on petrol and diesel, the BJP
MP said it is not only the Centre which receives taxes but states also
get the money collected from taxes on petroleum products. He added that
bringing petrol and diesel under the GST ambit is not possible for the
next 8 to 10 years. He also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
leadership in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. Another party MP
Jyotiraditya Scindia also expressed his views. Defending the
government's move related to disinvestment in PSUs, he questioned the
Congress criticism in this regard and said this process was started
during the previous UPA rule.
Vijaya Sai Reddy of YSR Congress demanded tax exemption for senior
citizens saying in the current budget, they have only been exempted from
compliance burden. He also questioned disinvestment in PSUs. TKS
Elangovan of DMK criticized the government over the state of
unemployment in the country. Prof Ramgopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party
said the government has not made any provision in the current tax system
to ease the hardship being faced by common man due to COVID 19. Dola
Sen of TMC, Amar Patnaik of BJD and others also spoke on the bill.
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(With input from news agency language)
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