The Union Budget does not have much to offer me, a middle-class taxpayer, and my family. A portion of my savings will be offset by the added cess on petrol, which will not only increase our family’s fuel bill per month but also have a cascading effect on every other product that we buy, increasing our cost of living overall.

I am a part-time farmer and visit my 20-acre farm in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka every weekend. I grow mangoes, bananas, guavas and other horticultural produce.

I am very happy about the proposed idea of forming 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organisations to ensure economies of scale for farmers. This will help farmers get better returnswhile reducing the role of greedy middle-men.

The push towards zero-budget farming is exciting and will create long-term sustainability; I am looking forward to more details on this.

Since a lot of the locals who work on my farm have no access to piped water, power or cooking gas, I am extremely pleased to see the Budget support proposed for piped water to every home in the country and expansion of Swachh Bharat to include solid waste management in all rural areas. I love the Government’s positive intent to provide basics, including housing for all, by 2022.

I am a member of a few voluntary organisations that work for the underprivileged sections of society; therefore the proposal to establish a social stock exchange for listing social enterprises is a very positive step.

I am impressed by the invocation of the ideals of kayakave kailasa (work is heaven) and dasoha (charity with humility) propagated by Lord Basaveshwara, which are highly relevant in all walks of life today.

Akshai Mallappa, IT professional and weekend farmer

As a woman entrepreneur running an IT services company I feel the FM’s ‘Naari tu Narayani’ is mere sloganeering as the Budget offered no specific benefits or even mentioned any allocation for women’s safety.

I am disappointed that GST for services firms — at 18 per cent, which is very high — has not been reduced as promised when first implemented.

I am looking forward to the articulation of the four labour codes that were announced, moving away from the archaic labour laws which make it difficult for companies to operate.

For instance, while I pay ESI premia for all my employees, none of them use ESI due to the poor quality of services and prefer to go to private clinics.

To get sanction for power to open a new facility involves a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape and there are not enough providers for high speed internet too.

My daughter, Sanjna, has launched her own venture — Ineffabal.com , an e-commerce site that sells fashion accessories. While small businesses with a turnover of up to ₹40 lakh per annum are exempted from paying GST, e-commerce ventures are not exempt and have to pay 18 per cent GST, which is not fair. The Government should encourage the youth of India by improving the ease of doing business, in order to foster entrepreneurship.

Savitha Mallappa, entrepreneur. Runs an IT services company with an operations centre in Mysuru

The Study in India movement is not only meant to attract foreign students but also aims to improve education in our country so that we are on a par with other countries in education. I am happy with this movement as we will have access to better education and will hence have more competitive prospects in the global market.

Sanjna Mallappa 17, student of II PUC Jain College, Bengaluru and founder of Ineffabal.com

(As told to Sangeetha Chengappa)

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