New Delhi: Yog guru Ramdev on Friday said the Interim Budget was “beneficial” for every section and since it was an election year it would be termed a “political budget”. “The government by giving income tax exemption till income of Rs five lakh has done a noble cause. This budget was for farmers, poor people, and the middle class and for cows as well. This budget is beneficial for everyone. It is a favourable budget for the middle-income people. As it is an election year, it would obviously be considered as a political budget,” Ramdev told the media.
Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in his Interim Budget raised the individual Income Tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh per annum and announced a major financial support scheme for farmers as well as a pension scheme for the unorganised sector as it presented a interim Budget ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Goyal announced a new scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) to extend direct income support at the rate of Rs 6,000 per year to farmer families, with cultivable land up to two hectares.
Under PM-KISAN, Rs 2,000 each will be transferred to bank accounts of around 12 crore small and marginal farmer families, in three equal instalments. This programme would be made effective from December 1, 2018 and the first instalment for the period up to March 31, 2019 would be paid during this year itself. Goyal also announced that a Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog will be set up for the welfare of cows in the country.
