Maha residents give wish list for budget
throughout the state to know the wishes of the people for the welfare of the state. The difference this time – the campaign was held online by the party’s chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari.
“Each year, prominent leaders of the BJP hold public consultations in various districts to know the demands of the people from the state budget. This time, we made an online appeal to people. Around 10 days ago, we sought people’s suggestions on Facebook, twitter and WhatsApp. We also appealed to people to email us their suggestions. The response was overwhelming. We received 8,000 responses on Facebook, twitter and WhatsApp. We also received 250 e-mails. Our team then sat together to discard the repetitions. We compiled the entire list of important demands, and handed it over to the Finance Minister. He has assured us to look into these demands,” Bhandari told The Sunday Guardian.
Under his leadership, the party has also conducted a study on the unfulfilled promises of the 2014 election manifesto declared by the BJP. “Around a week ago, I handed over the list to Sudhirbhau, about the issues from our election manifesto which have not yet been addressed,” he said. But he refused to divulge the details of it.
Among the prominent demands made by the citizens of the state for inclusion in this budget are Mediclaim policy for farmers and BPL citizens, storage facility within municipal limits for farmers so that they can directly approach consumers. There have also been suggestions for formation of a special Skill Development Council. Many want skill development counselling centres opened in the state. Some have also demanded special funding for the skill enhancement of specially-abled persons.
“Fund allocation to agriculture universities should be increased with specific provisions for research with respect to new technologies, to improve crop production and also to help farmers plan for alternative approach for variations in annual rainfall. Children/kin of farmers who are meritorious but unable to bear the cost of foreign education, should be given scholarships on behalf of the state government so they could pursue education in foreign universities,” the wish list says.
Seeking special emphasis on nurturing of good sports talent, some have demanded that “special group of athletes be identified and trained according to the sports shortlisted for 2020 Olympics and a separate fund be kept for this purpose. National level and state level athletes must also be given job assurances”. Focus on infrastructure development and asset building to create a long-term structure for sports development in the state and subsidised medical and educational facilities for sportspersons, are also part of the wish list. Corporates participating in promoting sports should be given additional benefits with respect to CSR/taxes. Sports related courses should be started and encouraged at school and university level.” Individuals and firms from across the nation have started approaching the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) seeking stay on the action initiated by the Income Tax (I-T) department for depositing over Rs 2.5 lakh in cash in their bank accounts in banned higher denomination notes following the demonetisation announcement last year. This will potentially result in the number of such cases before the ITAT going up and may affect the tribunal’s performance. “Following the demonetisation announcement, stringent action by the I-T department would translate into more appeals to the ITAT. If the tribunal is not adequately equipped, this potential surge of cases may affect its performance. This is troublesome, as an independent appeals mechanism is necessary to ensure speedy justice,” G.D. Agrawal, vice president of ITAT, said. According to ITAT data, around 2,00,000 cases were filed between January 2013 to March 2016 across the country, out of which only 28,000 rulings have come till December 2016. Also, the tribunal’s statistics on workload and functioning revealed that the ITAT has on an average 900 cases pending per member. Cases filed before busy ITAT benches like Mumbai and Delhi might take 35-50 months to reach a final verdict.