Farmer and unorganized sector pension schemes

What to know?

• The interim Budget 2019-20 contained elements that are aimed at benefiting three major segments of the population — farmers, informal sector workers, and salaried taxpayers — with announcements of an income support scheme for the first, an insurance scheme for the second, and tax exemptions for the third.
• The creation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, which is aimed at providing income support to vulnerable land holding farmers. What was notable about the announcement, however, was that he allocated Rs.20,000 crore for the scheme for the current financial year.
• Under this programme, vulnerable land holding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs.6,000 a year.
• This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal installments of Rs.2,000 each. This programme will be funded by the Government of India and will entail an annual expenditure of Rs.75,000 crore.
• Budget includes a 2-5% interest subvention for loans taken by farmers hit by natural disasters or for livestock farming and fisheries.
• The Central scheme’s payout is lower than what is being given by two States which already implement similar schemes: Telengana’s Rythu Bandhu scheme which gives farmers Rs.10,000 an acre a year, and Odisha’s KALIA scheme, which is giving Rs.10,000 a household a year to small landholders as well as landless tenant farmers.
• While keeping tax rates unchanged, he announced that those earning up to Rs.5 lakh a year would be exempt from income tax. This effectively meant that those earning Rs.6.5 lakh a year would not need to pay tax if they made full use of the Rs.1.5 lakh exemption available under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
• The standard deduction limit for salaried taxpayers would be raised to Rs.50,000 from the Rs.40,000 announced in last year Budget. This will provide additional tax benefit of Rs.4,700 crore to more than three crore salary earners and pensioners.
• The Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) threshold on interest earned on bank/post office deposits had been proposed to be raised from Rs.10,000 to Rs.40,000. Further, the TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent had also been proposed to be increased from Rs.1,80,000 to Rs.2,40,000.
• In a bid to win over informal workers, the Minister announced the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Scheme, designed to ensure a fixed monthly pension of Rs.3,000 a month for those above the age of 60.
• The contribution would be Rs.100 a month for those joining the scheme at the age of 29, while it would just Rs.55 a month for those joining at the age of 18. The government would match the monthly contributions with an equal contribution of its own.
• Budget has allotted Rs.750 crore to the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) under revised estimates for the financial year 2018-19.
• A committee will be set up under Niti Aayog to complete the task of identifying de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities, especially as they move from place to place in search of a livelihood. The committee will follow up on the work of the Renke Commission and the Idate Commission.

(Budget,economy,schemes, social sector)(The hindu)

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