Various affiliated Trade
Unions representing Central Government Employees have urged Government to
constitute 7th Commission and to officially announce the constitution of the
7th Pay Commission in the ensuing Budget (2013-14).
The trade unions have also demanded for raising income tax
exemption limit from the present Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs.
News flashed in Business
Standard News Paper in this regard is as follows.
Pressing for a people-friendly Budget for 2013-14, trade
unions today urged Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his team
to announce the constitution of the seventh pay commission along with raising
the income tax threshold to Rs 5 lakh in a year from the present Rs 2
lakh.
The demand was raised by the unions at a
Pre-Budget consultations in the North Block, even as the government
is struggling hard to rein in its fiscal deficit.
After the meeting,
Harbhajan Singh Siddhu of Hind Mazdoor Sabha said already seven years of the
sixth pay commission have passed and any new commission will take two-three
years to study.
“The revision of wages
and various service conditions of the government employees is already due.
Constitution of the seventh Pay Commission be announced in the Budget,” joint
recommendations of trade unions, including CPI (M)-affiliated CITU, CPI-linked
AITUC, INTUC of the Congress and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh to the Finance
Minister said.
Also, the unions have
demanded the income tax exemption ceiling for the salaried persons
should be raised to Rs 5 lakh per annum and fringe benefits like housing,
medical and educational facilities should be exempted from the income tax net
in totality.
At a time when the government is trying hard to raise FDI cap
in insurancesector to 49% from the current 26%, the unions raised
objections to the move.
As the government struggled to meet its disinvestment target of
Rs 30,000 crore this financial year, the memorandum said stake sale of
profit making PSUs “be stopped forthwith” and budgetary support be given for
revival of potentially viable sick PSUs.
On the poor sentiment in the economy, the unions called for
massiveinvestments by the government in the infrastructure sectors “in
order to stimulate the economy and to make the market look up”.
Chidambaram emphasised on the need to
revive investment in manufacturing and services sector in order to
create higher job opportunities, an official statement said.
Unions called for higher
government spending to create more jobs and guarantee consistent income to the
people, special allocation for creation of a welfare fund for protecting
interests of unorganised workers.
Increasing the scope of
MGNREGA to urban areas and raising the minimum period of employment under the
UPA flagship programme from 100 days to 200 days were other demands of the
unions.
Chidambaram said due to
the steps and measures taken by the government in the last few months, there
seems to be a change in the investmentsentiments both in public and private
sectors.
In order to curb inflationary pressure, the unions called for a
ban on forwardtrading of commodities along with rationalisation of taxes
on petroleum products.
For mobilisation of
resources the unions suggested higher taxes for the “rich and affluent”.
“A progressive taxation
system should be put in place to ensure taxing the rich and the affluent
sections who have the capacity to pay at a higher degree,” their representation
said adding that taxes on luxury goods should be increased and indirect taxes
on essential commodities be reduced.
Source: Business Standard
RE-OPTION UNDER RULE 6 PAY RULES 2008
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