Economists discuss impact of Union Budget

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 22

The Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), organised a talk on “A Critical Look at Union Budget 2018”. Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, Economics Prof, Punjabi University, Patiala spearheaded the discussion on Union Budget 2018 which aims to strengthen India’s agriculture, rural development, health, education, employment and infrastructure sectors.

Dr Brar discussed the status of key taxes, including custom duty, union excise duty, service tax, GST (Goods and Services Tax) and further highlighted the introduction of standard deduction and long term capital gains tax on securities. He also briefed on enhancement of custom duties in large number of commodities.

The Speaker gave an overview of allocation of funds for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, urban development, flood control, irrigation, education and healthcare.

The Budget has made bold announcement for agriculture wherein the MSP of crops will be fixed 50 per cent more than the cost of production, however, no allocation has been made for the purpose.

Dr Sukhpal Singh, HoD, said the current budget had a lopsided taxation base with low allocations for capital expenditure. Another Prof Dr Manjeet Kaur opined that the new schemes for enhancing agricultural production also need to factor in irrigation bottlenecks. Dr Jasdev Singh, Dr MS Sidhu and Dr HS Kingra stressed upon employment generation.