GUWAHATI, July 6 - Voluntary organisation Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG) today resented that the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday has failed to take into consideration the issues concerning the senior citizens of the country. The 2011 population census of India had found nearly 104 million senior citizens in India.
However, SGBG president Krishno Kanto Borooah, its vice president Ajoy Dutta and adviser Dhiren Baruah told this newspaper that the proposal to raise the income tax slab from the earlier Rs 2.5 lakh (Rs 3 lakh for senior citizens) to Rs 5 lakh now would mean an annual monetary benefit of around Rs 5,000 only for this segment of the populace.
The reduction in interest rates on bank deposits will also affect the senior citizens, as they are dependent on their savings accumulated through life-long toil, they said.
Moreover, they said the Union Budget is silent on whether the around 12 crore pensioners would be exempted from income tax or they would be subjected to nominal rates of income tax.
The issue of medical insurance of the senior citizens has also been left out by the Finance Minister in the Budget. But, considering the roles played by this segment of society in the development of the country�s economy, it is the bounden duty of the government to treat their medical insurance as a priority.
Again, the approach of the insurance companies needs to be re-moulded while formulating the medical insurance schemes for these people, they said.
They also decried the Minister�s proposal to impose more tax on petrol and diesel as it would hit the common people hard in the long run.
