Budget 2019: Piyush Goyal to present interim budget; What we can expect

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Railway Minister Piyush Goyal will present the sixth and final budget of the Narendra Modi-led government on February 1. However, this budget will be an interim one. This year's budget will seek Parliament's nod for spending for four months till a new government is sworn-in.

At this time, different sections of society including homemakers, traders, wholesalers and jewellers have posed great expectations on the government.

What traders, housewives and wholesalers expect from the Budget:

The housewives called for the reduction of prices of household commodities whereas traders and jewellers demanded relief measures which would propel their businesses.

Trader Nitin Gupta, said, "We have a lot of expectation from the budget. Whatever budget will come will be beneficial to the business community. We hope the government keeps in mind the welfare of the business community in this budget. In UP we were told that there would be only one tax in form of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and we request the government to remove this Mandi shulk (cess)".

Ashok Gupta, a grocery shop owner said, "We expect that relief measures must be introduced for small traders and changes must be done in GST as well. The quarterly return must be converted to yearly return."

Wholesale trader, Vaibhav Anand said, "We have complete faith in this government. As of now, there is no inflation and we have great expectations with the Modi government. Our problems are continuously being solved and we expect things will get even better with time. We are hopeful of growth in our business."

Homemaker Chanchal Kapur also expressed hope and requested for reduction of the price of daily use items.

"The cost of the cylinder has increased and even pulses and vegetables are being sold at high cost. Our kitchen is vastly impacted by the budget and we expect that the government must at least reduce the prices of daily use items. From school fees to daily grocery, the price of everything is increasing and we expect relief from the government in this budget," she said.

Trader Annu Kapur also reiterated the issue of school fee hike and said, "Small traders are facing a huge problem. We want that budget should provide relief to small traders. Private schools have hiked fees a lot. We request the prime minister and the finance minister to bring a balanced budget which is beneficial to the poor and less fortunate."

Talking about budget expectations, a student from Mumbai, Daksha said, "I hope that the government must reduce the prices of daily commodities such as rice and wheat. The tax slab must be increased."

"The government is doing good work but the business community and the retail community is not getting the kind of growth as it should. Malls and online businesses are getting more benefits and the government must think about it. I just want to appeal to the government to pay more attention to retail traders," said Chandrakant, another trader from Mumbai who has been running a grocery shop for around 40 years.

Mumbai based homemaker Sandhya Shah said, "We want that budget must be made considering the needs of homemakers. Prices of household items must be reduced. Gold rates should also be reduced. We are hopeful with the government."

Another Homemaker Kripa added, "Prices of everyday use items must be reduced so that homemakers can do some savings. Duty on gold should also be reduced."

Housewife Prema Rathi said, "We expect that upcoming budget should be good and must reduce the burden on homemakers. As of now, we have to think a lot before purchasing anything and the prices are very high. We hope that the government will provide much-needed relief in this budget."

A jeweller from Mumbai said, "This is the last budget of this five-year term of government. The gold industry has some issues and we hope that the government would provide some relief in its last budget. Import duty on gold is 10% which should be reduced to at least 5-6 per cent. The government had also made it mandatory to produce pan card on purchase of gold worth 2 lakh but a lot of housewives who come for shopping don't have it hence this bracket must be increased."

This year's budget to be a stormy session?

This year's budget session is expected to be stormy as the opposition will seek to corner the BJP-led NDA on a range of issues including Rafale, a problem of farmers and unemployment during the Budget session of Parliament which begins on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the government "should not bring full Budget in the name of interim budget and confine itself to only vote-on-account."

He said the Congress will raise the Rafale issue again bring to light new points. The party has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee in the Rafale deal. "We will also raise farmers' distress, unemployment and attack on autonomous bodies such as CBI, CVC, RBI," Kharge said.

He said the Congress will also raise its apprehensions regarding electronic voting machines.

"We put forth several issues in the meeting. We said that since this is the last session, everybody should be given a chance to speak on the discussion on Presidential address."

Trinamool Congres leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of "misusing CBI against Bengal."

Similarly, ahead of the Interim Budget to be presented on February 1, defence experts are of the view that the government must increase its expenditure on the defence sector.

Chandrababu Naidu to hold protest

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday announced that he will hold protest against the Budget Session of Parliament from February 1 to 13. He alleged that the Centre cheated Andhra Pradesh in the last five budgets, Naidu said that the agitation will also be held in the national capital on February 11.

Here what everyone has been tweeting about Budget 2019:

This will be the last Budget of the current BJP-led NDA government before the General Elections.

(with inputs from agencies)

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