Ajeet Kumar
In the last year's Budget, the government had given an impetus to skill development, while the 'Make in India' campaign has raised expectations pertaining to more measures for the job market growth.
While presenting the Union Budget 2014-15, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told Parliament that the programme would skill the youth with an emphasis on employability and entrepreneur skills.
To boost job market, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should announce measures in the Union Budget to enable entry of greater workforce into the formal sector and usher in labour reforms.
Considering the Modi government’s track record since May last year, students have high expectations from the BJP regime and hope that there will be some significant policy changes that would make a positive impact on their day-to-day lives.
Here are some changes that the Students expect in this year’s Budget that would benefit a common man.
Students are hoping that exemptions against education loans can be extended to 10 years from the currently allowed 8 years. They hope that there will be no further rise in service tax otherwise educational institutions will increase their fees.
The government should also look at exempting all educational products, used by school and college students, from both central and state taxes. This will help in promoting education and providing educational aids at affordable prices, particularly to the lower economic strata.
At present, educational products, such as exercise books, pens, notebooks, pencils, geometry boxes and other such items attract 2 percent excise duty (without CENVAT credit) plus education cess. Also, most of these products, come under the ambit of states' value added tax (VAT) at the rate of 5 percent, it said.
Moreover, the Budget should also take care of the issues pertaining to foreign universities' participation in India's education sector and offer incentives like scholarships and other schemes to enhance female enrolment across states.
To make domestic higher education more affordable, the government must take adequate steps to decrease education loan rates across the board.
