Ahead of Budget 2017-18, citizens are forsaking their usual requests to the government for lower income tax or higher allocations for education and health — and are instead offering innovative suggestions to boost cashless transactions and meet the challenges of demonetisation.
The suggestions, submitted on www.mygov.in, range from demonetising even small-denomination currency and issuing fresh notes to making banking or digital payments mandatory for all purchases of gold, cars and foreign travel tickets.
Until December 15, the last date for submission, the government received 4,124 Budget suggestions from the public: a majority of them focussed on cashless payments and curbing black money. Finance Ministry officials will examine the suggestions and short-list those that can be implemented. A final decision will be taken closer to the presentation of the Budget.
There were also suggestions that the government scrap additional merchant charges on purchases by debit/credit cards and waive charges on NEFT payments. One suggestion was for having ‘promotion of cashless transactions’ as an eligibility criterion for getting a ‘smart city’ tag. A majority of those offering suggestions backed the government’s decision to demonetise ₹500 and ₹2,000 notes; there were many suggestions for measures to educate people on how to make digital payments and access mobile banking channels. There were also calls for increased security features on debit/credit cards and at ATMs.
The government’s Jan Bhagidari campaign aims to involve common people in decision-making; some of the suggestions could be incorporated into the Budget proposals. According to the website, 10 suggestions were used as inputs in Budget 2016-17.
Among the suggestions this year were for higher income-tax on those earning over ₹1 crore as well as for levying a banking cash transaction tax.
Some citizens were disappointed by the lowering of interest rates on small saving schemes, and sought higher returns at least on the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme.
Other suggestions include promoting the use of solar energy as well as improved amenities in trains.