Budget 2014: What it means for common man (original) (raw)

53.7% 403 of 750 families in Katra Sadatganj have no access to toilets and defecate in the open, according to NGO Sulabh International’s UP head Avinash Kumar.

Updated: July 11, 2014 17:03 IST

Updated : July 11, 2014 17:03 IST


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    53.7% 403 of 750 families in Katra Sadatganj have no access to toilets and defecate in the open, according to NGO Sulabh International’s UP head Avinash Kumar.
    Jagdish 'Pandit', as he is locally known, watches a toilet being built in his house, one of 100 under construction in Katra Sadatganj village. He hasn’t had to depend on the budget; these are being built by an NGO.
    This is the village where two girls were allegedly raped and murdered after going out to relieve themselves. Sulabh International then declared that it was “adopting” the village and building 100 toilets.
    (Reported by Sumegha Gulati, Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)


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    $400 bn electronic outlook Aruna Newton’s estimate for export of electronic goods by 2020 as a senior executive at Infosys Ltd, Aruna Newton helps structure its education and research needs. Her hope is the budget will take India from an IT and IT services-driven economy to a manufacturing one.
    (Reported by Johnson T A, Express photo by Indu Antony)


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    DEVENDRA PAL’S DAILY EFFORT: This is his estimate for what he loads onto trucks every day at a rubber unit. For his labour, he gets Rs 3,000 a month, and is the sole breadwinner. (Reporting by Dipankar Ghose, Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)


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    MUKUL, 44, represents the seventh generation, running a family business at Old Delhi’s Dariba Kalan. His perfume company Gulab Singh Johrima stands out in one of the country’s oldest jewellery markets. Gundhi, married with two children, runs it with his father, a brother and an uncle.
    An imminent new tax regime (GST) and the associated uncertainties are the budget feature that concerns him. (Reporting by Kaunain Sheriff M)


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    Rs 9.87 lakh crore: June quarter’s average assets under management or AUM (excluding fund of funds), according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India. This marks a record rise of 9.05%, or Rs 81,957 crore. Shah feels the focus should be revival of growth, increasing infrastructure outlay, and strong initiatives to revive financial savings. (Reporting by Sandeep Singh, Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)


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    45,000 ZERODHA’S CLIENTS: Nikhil says the company doubles its revenues year-on-year. It started off as a team of five, and today employs 130.
    Nikhil wants a reduction in overall tax rates. “We strongly believe the current tax rates aren’t justified and a reduction could galvanise a lot of people, who don’t pay taxes now, to start doing so,” he says. He is director, trading and risk. (Reporting by V SHOBA, Photo by Selvaprakash Lakshmanan)


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    225 km LENGTH OF NH 143: The centre of Vijay Kant Yadav’s existence. His trucking business takes him along this way between Chas in Jharkhand and Nuahata in Orissa NH 143 IS under 20 feet wide, allowing no more than two heavy vehicles at a time, while a bridge over the river Brahmani is creaky and weak. “With diesel rates going up, I want my truck to roll faster,” he says. (Reporting and Express photo by Debrata Mohanty)


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    7:6:4 BUILDINGS: STUDENTS: TEACHERS: Buildings outnumber all else at this primary school, though only three of them are fit for use.
    “The Education Minister contested from here; let’s see if she repairs the roof,” says Sunita, assistant teacher, about her budget hopes. (Reporting by Hamza Khan, Express photo by Pramod Singh)


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    30 members: Size of Balkrishna Jadhav’s family in Dharanachi wadi village in Raigad district.
    Balkrishna Jadhav and his family totter along to every single protest march against the $90 billion, 1,483 km, proposed Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor. At stake is his 100-acre farmland. About 27,000 hectares will be acquired from 78 villages in Raigad to create Dighi Port Industrial Area. (Reporting by Shalini Nair, Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)


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    0 to 15.5% VAT VARIATION: Pawan Puri notes bread entails no VAT unless made into a pizza base or bun, when it invites 15.5% tax for Pawan Puri the wish list begins with a simplified Food Safety and Standards Act. “I will also be thankful if the minister (Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the local MP) can reduce the number of departments involved in our business,” Pawan says Puri's annual turnover is little more than a crore and he sells at three outlets, and has a baking unit on Bathinda’s outskirts. (Reporting by Raakhi Jagga, Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)


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    Rs 1,000 crore BUDGET ALLOCATION: Set aside in the budget for former servicemen under the One Rank, One Pension scheme OROP IS the major issue Lt Col (retd) Sudhir Bahel had been hoping for. Bahel, 48, took voluntary retirement last year after 23 years of service. “Everything else will fall in place for ex-servicemen if the OROP demand is met and implemented,” he said before the budget. (Reporting by Navjeevan Gopal, Photo by Rana Simranjit Singh)


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    Rs 2,000/qt WHAT PATHE SAYS HE NEEDS TO BREAK EVEN: He has been selling in distress at Rs 1,500 a quintal in Nagpur. GOVERDHAN PATHE from Bichhwa village near Nagpur has brought eight quintals of last year’s wheat to Nagpur’s Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee for “distress sale”. He had stocked since December hoping for higher prices, but now needs the money for the kharif season. PATHE’S WISH is better prices. Among his other expectations are more easily available and cheaper irrigation, electricity and diesel. (Reporting by VIVEK DESHPANDE, Express photo by Sanjib Ganguly)


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    22 km FROM ALLAHABAD: Bankat is an island amid development all around. It is 200 metres off NH-2 between Howrah and Delhi. Not far away is Degree College.
    Ram Sajeevan Yadav has never seen power supply in a lifetime of 49 years at his village in Allahabad district. Neither did his father Punni Lal Yadav, nor has any of the 100-odd households in the village.
    Power is easily the first thing the entire village hopes the budget will ensure for them. (Reporting by Prashant Pandey, Express photo by Amar Deep)


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    Rs 18,000/month: Vaghela earns a living by ferrying officials of Ford Motor from Ahmedabad to the plant. Life has changed for Vaghela, 40, since Sanand turned into an auto hub, with the successive arrivals of Tata Motors’s Nano plant, FMCG and other manufacturers. From being a graduate working as a farmer, Vaghela now uses the car he bought for self-use as a taxi that brings in cash.
    Vaghela has 15 bighas of land he does not use, and wants the government to acquire it for auto companies. Private developers are not offering enough and his budget wish is land acquisition guidelines that will suit him better. He did sell some land to a developer and has built a house for his family. (Reporting by Satish Jha, Express photo by Javed Raja)


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    Mahato has just returned after getting his rations from the PDS outlet at Daulatpur- Devaria panchayat in Vaishali district. The last rations he got were in October. The current collection is only a month’s quota for his family of seven.
    The auto driver links his dreams with his MP. “Now that Ram Vilas Paswan is minister-incharge, people of his constituency should be told the truth.” What he wants to know is why rations have always been short. “Last year, we got grains for five months.” (Reporting by Santosh Singh, Express photo by Prashant Ravi)