Preparations for the General Budget are in full swing. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the General Budget in Parliament on February 1. Meanwhile, meetings of industry associations and labor unions are being held with the Finance Minister. In this, each organization put its own demands. Also, the labor unions have demanded a five-fold increase in the minimum pension under EPFO, immediate formation of the Eighth Pay Commission and higher taxes on the super-rich in the budget for the financial year 2025-26.
However, experts say there is no hope of taking any decision on the Eighth Pay Commission demand in the budget. The government has clarified its stand on this issue.
In their customary pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the trade union leaders demanded raising the income tax exemption limit to Rs 10 lakh per annum, introducing a social security scheme for temporary workers and restoring the old pension scheme (OPS) for government employees. employees. Demanded to do that too.
Sitharaman will present the budget for the financial year 2025-26 on February 1. In this order she is discussing with representatives of various sectors. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Trade Union Coordination Center (TUCC) national general secretary SP Tiwari said the government should stop the move to privatize public sector undertakings and allow the super-rich to collect social security funds for unorganized sector workers. . But an additional two percent tax should be levied.
Union Secretary of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (Uttar Pradesh) Pawan Kumar said that the minimum pension payable under the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS-95) has been increased from Rs.1000 per month to Rs. 5000 should be done and then included in it.
VDA (Variable Dearness Allowance) should also be added. He also suggested that the income tax exemption limit should be increased to Rs 10 lakh. Along with this, he also demanded the government to exempt pension income from tax. Kumar also said that the Eighth Pay Commission should be constituted immediately to improve the pay structure of government employees.
Supporting the demand, Swadesh Dev Roy, national secretary of labor organization Center of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said that more than 10 years have passed since the formation of the Seventh Pay Commission in February 2014. Dev Roy expressed concern over the sharp decline in the number of permanent employees in central public sector undertakings.
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