PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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DEFENCE ALLOCATION RAISED TO RS 2,29,000 CRORE

CAPITAL OUTLAY FOR DEFENCE MODERNIZATION INCREASED BY RS 5,000 CRORE

New Delhi: July 10, 2014
Ashadha 19,1936

Allocation for defence in this year’s General Budget has been raised to Rs 2,29,000 crore. Presenting the Union Budget in Lok Sabha today, the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley also proposed a further sum of Rs 1,000 crore to address the pension disparities while implementing the policy of “one rank one pension” for soldiers.
Emphasizing on the modernization of the armed forces to enable them to play their role effectively in the defence of country’s strategic interests, the Finance Minister also proposed to increase the capital outlay for defence modernization by Rs 5,000 crore over the amount provided for in the interim Budget. This includes a sum of Rs 1,000 crore for accelerating the development of the Railways system in the border areas. He said urgent steps would also be taken to stream line the procurement process to make it speedy and more efficient.

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DSM/Samir/SK

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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:33 IST

Bullet Trains and Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that Indian Railways is on its way to fulfill the long cherished dream to run a Bullet Train. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today, he said, the Railways proposes bullet trains by starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, where a number of studies have been done.

The Minster said, under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modiji, the Railways is embarking on an ambitious plan to have a Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail, connecting major Metros and growth centers of the country. A provision of Rs.100 crore has been made in the Budget for high Speed project to RVNL/HSRC (High Speed Rail Corridor) for taking further steps.
He said, while bullet trains would require completely new infrastructure, higher speed for existing trains will be achieved by upgrading the present network. The Minister said, hence, an effort will be made to increase the speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select sectors so as to significantly reduce travel time between major cities. The Minister said, the identified sectors are:

i) Delhi-Agra
ii) Delhi-Chandigarh
iii) Delhi-Kanpur
iv) Nagpur-Bilaspur
v) Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai
vi) Mumbai-Goa
vii) Mumbai-Ahmedabad
viii) Chennai-Hyderabad and
ix) Nagpur-Secunderabad.

PIB

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Print Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:19 IST

Railways proposes to introduce 58 new trans which includes five Jansadharan Trains, five Premium Trains, six AC Express Trains, 27 Express Trains, eight Passenger Trains, two MEMU services and five DEMU services this year. Announcing this in Parliament today while presenting the rail budget, the Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda also proposed to extend the run of 11 existing trains.

Shri Gowda said these services would be meeting the demand surges which manifest themselves on special occasions. He said that special trains would continue to run to meet the holiday and festival rush including services for Melmaruvathur, Velankanni, Jhalawar etc.

NEW TRAINS

Jansadharan Trains

i) Ahmedabad–Darbhanga Jansadharan Express via Surat
Ii Jaynagar–Mumbai Jansadharan Express
ii) Mumbai–Gorakhpur Jansadharan Express
iv) Saharasa–Anand Vihar Jansadharan Express via Motihari
v) Saharasa–Amritsar Jansadharan Express

Premium Trains

i) Mumbai Central–New Delhi Premium AC Express
ii) Shalimar–Chennai Premium AC Express
iii) Secunderabad-­ Hazrat Nizamuddin Premium AC Express
iv) Jaipur–Madurai Premium Express
v) Kamakhya–Bengaluru Premium Express

AC ExpressTrains

i) Vijayawada­NewDelhiAPExpress(Daily)
ii) LokmanyaTilak(T)–Lucknow(Weekly)
iii) Nagpur–Pune(Weekly)
iv) Nagpur–Amritsar(Weekly)
v) Naharlagun–NewDelhi(Weekly)
vi) Nizamuddin–Pune(Weekly)

ExpressTrains

i) Ahmedabad–Patna Express(Weekly)via Varanasi
ii) Ahmedabad­ Chennai Express(Bi­weekly)via Vasai Road
iii) Bengaluru –Mangalore Express(Daily)
iv) Bengaluru –Shimoga Express(Bi­weekly)
v) Bandra(T)–Jaipur Express(Weekly)Via Nagda,Kota
vi) Bidar–Mumbai Express(Weekly)
vii) Chhapra–Lucknow Express (Tri­ weekly)viaBallia,Ghazipur,Varanasi
viii) Ferozpur–Chandigarh Express(6 days a week)
ix) Guwahati–Naharlagun Intercity Express(Daily)
x) Guwahati–Murkongselek Intercity Express(Daily)
xi) Gorakhpur–Anand Vihar Express(Weekly)
xii) Hapa–Bilaspur Express(Weekly)via Nagpur
xiii) Hazur Saheb Nanded–Bikaner Express(Weekly)
xiv) Indore–Jammu Tawi Express(Weekly)
xv) Kamakhya–Katra Express(Weekly)via Darbhanga
xvi) Kanpur–Jammu Tawi Express(Bi­weekly)
xvii) Lokmanya Tilak(T)–Azamgarh Express(Weekly)
xviii) Mumbai_Kazipeth Express(Weekly)via Balharshah
xix) Mumbai–Palitana Express(Weekly)
xx) New Delhi ­Bhatinda Shatabdi Express(Bi­weekly)
xxi) New Delhi–Varanasi Express(Daily)
xxii) Paradeep–Howrah Express(Weekly)
xxiii) Paradeep–Visakhapatnam Express(Weekly)
xxiv) Rajkot–Rewa Express(Weekly)
xxv) Ramnagar–Agra Express(Weekly)
xxvi) Tatanagar Baiyyappanahali (Bengaluru) Express(Weekly)
xxvii) Visakhapatnam–Chennai Express(Weekly)

Passenger Trains

i) Bikaner–Rewari Passenger(Daily)
ii) Dharwad–Dandeli Passenger(Daily)via Alnavar
iii) Gorakhpur–Nautanwa Passenger(Daily)
iv) Guwahati–Mendipathar Passenger(Daily)
v) Hatia–Rourkela Passenger
vi) Byndoor–Kasaragod Passenger(Daily)
vii) Rangapara North–Rangiya Passenger(Daily)
viii) Yesvantpur–Tumkur Passenger(Daily)

MEMU services

i) Bengaluru –Ramanagaram 6 days a week(3Pairs)
ii) Palwal–Delhi–Aligarh

DEMU services

i) Bengaluru –Neelmangala (Daily)
ii) Chhapra–Manduadih (6days a week)via Ballia
iii) Baramula–Banihal (Daily)
iv) Sambalpur–Rourkela (6 days a week)
v) Yesvantpur ­Hosur (6 days a week)

EXTENSION OF RUN OF EXISTING TRAINS

i) 22409/22410 Anand Vihar Sasaram Garib Rath Express to Gaya
ii) 12455/12456 Delhi Sarai Rohilla Sriganganagar Express to Bikaner
iii) 15231/15232 Gondia Muzaffarpur Express to Barauni
iv) 12001/12002 New Delhi Bhopal Shatabdi Express to Habibganj
v) 54602 Ludhiana–Hissar Passenger to Sadulpur
vi) 55007/55008 Sonpur–Kaptanganj Passenger to Gorakhpur
vii) 55072/55073 Gorakhpur–Thawe Passenger toSiwan
viii) 63237/63238Buxar–Mughalsarai MEMU toVaranasi
ix) 63208/63211Jhajha–PatnaMEMUtoJasidih
x) 64221/64222LucknowHardoi MEMU to Shahjahan pur
xi) 68002/68007Howrah–Belda MEMU to Jaleswar

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MKP/HK/Samir/sk

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Good news for salaried women! Narendra Modi Government is considering higher income tax exemption limit for women in the budget for 2014-15.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley is restructuring tax slabs and is thus set to approve a proposal to raise the tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh from existing Rs 2 lakh.

The Modi government will ease the tax burden on the middle class and impose a higher tax on the super rich in its first Budget to be presented by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley next month.

According to the proposal, under consideration of the new government, there would also be a tax on the super- rich bracket, comprising those earning Rs 10 crore or more of 35 per cent. This category would be above the Rs 1 crore, class which currently pays an effective tax of 33 per cent inclusive of a surcharge that the earlier government had introduced.
India’s tax regime is being overhauled by Finance minster

Women will be offered a higher tax relief — the threshold income below which individuals are not liable to pay taxes—for women could be fixed at between Rs. 3,25,000 to Rs. 3,50,000.
Rs. 1 lakh annual tax deduction allowed under Section 80C of the Income-tax Act has not kept pace with the rising inflation and needs revision.

A separate deduction of at least Rs 1 lakh per year specifically for education is being considered
Exemption on home loans:  To reduce the burden on households for the interest paid on housing loan for a self-occupied house property a deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh is allowed. It can be increased to Rs 5 lakh per year.
Moreover, a proposal to reduce the age for tax exemption for senior citizens to 60 years from 65 years is also under consideration.
EXISTING TAX STRUCTURE

Income of less than Rs. 2 lakh a year are exempt from paying taxes.

Earning between Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 5 lakh annually are taxed at 10%,

Between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh at 20%

Earning more than Rs. 10 lakh pays a tax of 30%.

Source: Sahara Samay News
[http://www.saharasamay.com/nation-news/676555821/salaried-women-to-get-higher-income-tax-exemption-in-the-budget-.html]

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Shiva Gopal Mishra
Secretary

National Council (Staff Side)
Joint Consultative Machinery
Central Government Employees
13-C, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi – 110001

No.NC/JCM/2014

Dated: June 17, 2014

Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
(Government of India), Ministry of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi

Respected Sir,
Reg.: Pre-budget consultation

I, on behalf of National Council (Joint Consultative Machinery), representing more than 36 lakh Central Government Employees’, once again congratulate and welcome you on your taking over as Finance Minister of the new government, recently formed on the verdict of the people of this country.

We take this opportunity to bring to your kind notice some important major issues that need to be taken into consideration while finalising the General Budget of our country for the year 2014-15. This would definitely boost the morale of the Central Government Employees and simultaneously help a lot in overall development of our nation.

Some of the important issues are appended below for your kind consideration;

(i) Effective measures need to be taken to arrest the skyrocketing price rice, particularly of essential commodities effecting common man and to contain inflation, ban speculative forward trading in commodities, strengthen the Public Distribution System, ensure proper check on unlawful hoardings and rationalise the tax dutylcess on petroleum products with a view to minimise burden on common people.

(ii) Adequate allocation be ensurd in infrastructure development in order to stimulate the economy for job creation. Necessary measures are required to be taken for strengthening the Public Sector for job creation and rapid development of the country as this sector plays vital role in this regard. Plan and non-plan expenditure should be adequately increased to stimulate job creation and ensuring consistent income of the people.

(iii) Minimum Wage linked to Consumer Price Index need to be guaranteed to all workers, complying the recommendation of the 15 Indian Labour Conference as envisaged by the apex court of the country and reiterated in the 44th Indian Labour Conference held in 2012, and it should be minimum Rs 15000 p.m.

(iv) In the context of huge job losses and mounting unemployment problem, the ban imposed on recruitment in Government Departments, Public Sector Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies should be lifted as per recommendation of the 43 Session of the Indian Labour Conference, Instructions of the Finance Ministry to abolish the posts which are not filled for one year should be withdrawn and thumb rule surrender of posts in Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings be stopped, while new posts be created fornew assets and increased workload without imposing any conditn of “Matching Saving” etc.

(v) In the wake of appointment of VII CPC by the former government, allocation of requiste funds be made for Interim Relief and to implement the recommendations of the VII CPC.

(vi) All the restrictive provisions based on poverty line in respect of eligibility coverage of the schemes under the Unorganised Workers’ Social Secuñty Act, 2008 need to be done awaywith and adequate resources be allocated for the National Fund for Unorganised Workers with a view to provide Social Security to all Unorganised Workers, including Contractual/Casual Workers in ne with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour as also the 43rd Session of the Indian Labour Conference, for which the word “Below Poverty Line” need to be re-defined at the earliest.

(vii) Necessary provision in the budget be made for providing essential services, viz, housing, public transport, sanitation, water, schools/colleges, creche for children, healthcare for the workers in the new emerging industrial areas as also separate women hostels for women workers where their participation is high.

(viii) Budget provision is required to be increased for elementary education, particularly in the wake of implementation of the justify to Education, as the same can be proved an effective tool to combat Child Labour.

(ix) The prevalent system of computation of Consumer Pñce Index needs to be reviewed owing to heavy financial loss to the workers in the present system.

(x) The ceiling limit for exemption of Income Tax for the salaried employees be raised to atleast 5 lakh per annum and fringe benefits, like housing, medical aid education facilities, Running Allowances, be exempted from Income Tax net in totality.

(xi) New Pension Scheme be withdrawn, being detrimental for Social Security, and all employees under the Central Government, State Government, PSUs, Autonomous Bodies etc. recruited on or after 01.01.2004 be covered under Old Pension Scheme. Any National Pension Scheme should be made optional in addition to Old Pension Scheme.

(xii) The genuine demand for Merger of Dearness Allowance with Pay be accepted and adequate allocation of funds for this purpose be made in the budget.

We also put-forth the following suggestions in regard to resource mobilisation for the purpose of fulfilment of the aspirations of the common people of the country in general and the working class in particular:-

• 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. Corporate service sector, traders, wholesale business, private hospitals and institutions etc. should be brought under broader and higher tax net Increase taxes on luxury goods and reduce Indirect Taxes on essential commodities, as at present overwhelming majority of the population are subjected lo Indirect Taxes that constitute 86% of the revenue.
• Concrete steps must be taken to recover huge accumulated unpaid tax arrears which has already crossed more than Rs.5 lakh crore on Direct and Corporate Tax account alone, and has been increasing at a geometric proportion. Such huge tax evasion over and above the liberal tax concessions, already given in the last two budgets, should not be allowed to continue.
• The steps taken by the new Central Government, constituting Special Investigation Team(SIT) for recovering black money are praiseworthy and we urge for speedy action in the matter.
• Effective measures need to be taken to unearth huge accumulation of black money in the economy, including heavy amount of uncounted money in the tax heavens abroad and within the country, and necessary provisions be made to bring back illicit flow from India, which are at present more than twice current external debt of US$ 230 billion. This huge money be directed towards providing Social Security lo the working class.

We do hope, the above-mentioned views would receive due consideration from your good-self. Besides the, there is an urgent need for continuous dialogue with the Central Government Employees, for which, the National Council(JCM), being ai effective tool, has always played a vital role during the past, however., it is quite unfortunate that the same has been made ineffective during the recent years. It is our considered view that, in the larger interest of the development of the nation, continuous dialogue on the problems of the Central Government Employees through the JCM is necessary.

It is, therefore, earnestly requested that, dialogue in the pre-budget discussion with the JCM(Staff Side) should also be ensured, so that the views expressed by them can also be taken Into account while finalising the Budget.

With kind regards!

Yours faithfully,
sd/-
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)

Source: http://ncjcmstaffside.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Pre-Budget-Consultations_17.06.2014.pdf

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In its Pre-Budget wish list regarding Income Tax 80C, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has suggested to the Finance Ministry that the consolidated deduction under 80C be raised from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakhs.

Most Central Government employees have savings schemes that are linked with General Provident Fund. Under this scheme, the employee not only gets interest for the money saved, but also enjoys the option to withdraw the money whenever required. The money is also entitled to exemption under Section 80C. It has to be mentioned here that new employees (appointed on or after 2004) do not have this option.

If the Income tax deduction is raised from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh under Section 80C, then there are possibilities that savings will increase among the employees.

It has to be mentioned that CII has suggested that a separate section be created for Tuition fees (Children Education Allowance). Although the allowance given for the higher education of the children is exempted from income tax under Section 80C, the Rs. 1 lakh exemption is considered to be very low. Now a amount of one lakh is exempt form income tax for all long and short term saving schemes including General Provident Funds.

CII has also suggested that the Rs. 1.5 lakh exemption being granted for house loan interests should be raised to Rs. 5 lakhs under Income Tax Section 24 for self-occupied property.

Source: CGEN.in
[http://centralgovernmentemployeesnews.in/2014/06/budget-2014-cii-suggests-raising-80c-deductions-to-rs-2-5-lakhs/]

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Raising of exemption limit of Income Tax to Rs. 5 lakh for Individuals, Rs. 7 lakh for Senior Citizens above 60 years and Rs. 10 lakh for the very old and exemption of all allowances from Income Tax – Com. Shiva Gopal Mishra Secy/NC JCM writes to Finance Minister for including this demand into Union Budget

Shiva Gopal Mishra
Secretary

National Council (Staff Side)
Joint Consultative Machinery
for Central Government Employee
13-C, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi – 110001

No.Nc-JCM/2014/IT

Dated: June 9, 2014

Shri Arun Jaitley,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
Ministry of Finance,
North Block, New Delhi

Resp. Sir,

Sub: Raising of exemption limit for Income Tax and exemption of all allowances from Income Tax

Exemption limit from Income Tax is very low and neither realistic nor justified. It is not linked with Inflation nor is it appropriately revised every year.

Fixing of exemption limit for Income Tax is done arbitrarily. No systematic norms are followed while fixing the same. There is no transparency about the norms or policy adopted for fixing the Exemption limit for Income Tax.

Low ceiling of exemption is one of the root cause of build up of huge amounts of Black Money.

It is also a major impediment in the growth and development of the National economy as the spending by the common man gets restricted due to the low ceiling of Income Tax. This, according to experts, adversely affects the National Development as a whole.

Taxing of Dearness Allowance, House Rent Allowance and Transport Allowance etc., erodes the real income of the Salaried Class, as these Allowances are compensatory in nature and as such should be exempted from Income Tax, as recommended by the Fifth Central Pay Commission(vide Chapter 167 of their Report).

Taxing of Pension of Senior Citizens, especially Additional Pension of the very old Senior Citizens, is totally unjustified, and as such should be exempted from Income Tax, as recommended by the Fifth Central Pay Commission.

It is, therefore, requested that:-

(i) Exemption limit for Income Tax be raised to Rs. 5 lakh for Individuals, Rs. 7 lakh for Senior Citizens above 60 years and Rs. 10 lakh for the very old – above 80 years of age.

(ii) All the allowances, i.e. Dearness Allowance/Dearness Relief, HRA and Transport Allowance, may please be exempted from the Income Tax to avoid erosion of real wages as recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission vide Chapter 167 of their Report and Para 95 of Summary of Recommendations (Please see excerpts of Fifth CPC Report attached herewith as Annexure).

(iii) Fixed Medical Allowance to Pensioners may please be exempted from Income Tax as it is reimbursement of the expenses for day-to-day medical treatment.

Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
Secretary(Staff Side)
NC/JCM

Encl: Excerpts of the recommendations of Fifth CPC

Copy to: All Constituent Organizations of the National Council, JCM(Staff Side) – for information.

ANNEXURE

EXCERPTS FROM THE REPORT OF FIFTH PAY COMMISSION REG. EXEMPTION OF ALL ALLOWANCES FROM INCOME TAX

The Fifth Pay Commission vide Chapter 167 & Para 95 of Summary of Recommendation had recommended as under:-

“Para 95 The Commission has felt that the salaries and pensions recommended by it are not really adequate if they are to be fully taxed. Accordingly, it has recommended that all Allowances and Pensions should be paid Net of Taxes”.
The Fifth CPC in Para 167.7 had observed as under:-

‘‘If such Allowances are taxed, then either the Basic Salary gets eroded in its real value from Year to Year or the partial Reimbursement of Expenditure incurred on certain items becomes less and less with the passage of time.  In both the cases, the objective of giving Allowances is partially nullified”.

The Fifth CPC further observed in Para 167.8 that –

“We have observed that Ministry of External Affairs pays ‘Net of Tax’ Salaries to its employees on Foreign Posting. Provision for paying Net of Tax Salary already exists Under Sec.195A of the Income Tax Act. Under the Section, employees do not have to pay Income Tax on the salaries received by them and it is the liability of the employer to pay the same to the Income Tax Department.”

“The solution to the problem of the Central Government Employees in general lies in the application of this legal provision” (Fifth CPC – Para 167.9).

Source: http://ncjcmstaffside.com/2014/raising-of-exemption-limit-of-income-tax-exemption-of-all-allowances-from-income-tax/

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