Informist, Monday, Jun 24, 2024

By Priyasmita Dutta and Shubham Rana

NEW DELHI – Trade unions today urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to raise the ceiling for income tax rebate for the salaried class in the Union Budget 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), expected to be presented next month, to 1 mln rupees from the current 300,000 rupees. Representatives from trade unions also asked the minister to raise corporate and wealth taxes and introduce an inheritance tax.

"Over the decades, corporate tax rates have been slashed down unjustly and at the same time increasing indirect tax burden on common people resulted in an utterly regressive tax structure," a memorandum from 10 central trade unions submitted to the finance minister said.

"That must be corrected in the interests of fairness, equity and propriety. Even one percent inheritance tax on the super-rich with the ceiling can fetch huge amount to the budget receipts," the memorandum continued. "It can be used to finance the education, health and other social sectors. Hence, immediately GST on essential food items and medicine has to be drastically reduced."

Twelve trade unions were present at the pre-Budget meeting with Sitharaman, including the All India Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, and Centre of Indian Trade Unions.

The unions also asked the minister to scrap the four labour codes and restore the labour laws that were consolidated into the codes. The government consolidated 29 central labour laws into four labour codes--Code on Wages, 2019; Industrial Relations Code, 2020; Code on Social Security, 2020; and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.

Further, the unions asked for fixed minimum wages of more than 26,000 rupees per month with indexation, "in line with consensus recommendation of Indian Labour Conference in which government of India is a party."

The unions also said the number of working days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be increased to 200 days per family from the current 100 days, along with an increase in the budgetary allocation for the scheme. The Interim Budget, presented in February, allocated 860 bln rupees for the scheme for 2024-25. Work under the scheme should also be linked with agriculture and all allied activities, a trade union representative said.

One big demand from the trade unions was related to unemployment and job creation. The unions said the government ban on creation of new posts and filling up of vacant posts in public offices and public-sector undertakings must be revoked immediately.

Moreover, the unions called for the end of fixed-term government job schemes such as 'Agniveer'. They also asked the government to constitute the Eighth Central Pay Commission for Central Government Employees "without any delay".

The trade unions talked about the need to return to the Old Pension System from the National Pension System, and raise the pension under the Employees' Pension Scheme to 5,000 rupees from 1,000 rupees currently.

They also raised the issue of high inflation and food prices. At the same time, they said farmers should be paid a minimum support price for their agricultural produce under a legal guarantee and called for an allocation in the Budget for the same. End

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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