NEW DELHI: India’s finance minister on Thursday announced a federal budget with a string of populist giveaways, from affordable housing to a health plan for millions of the poor, in an attempt to woo voters ahead of national elections next year.
Speaking in Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also announced a liberalization of agricultural exports, which will increase from $30 billion a year to $100 billion, to help push up crop prices for farmers. Exports of many agricultural products have long been restricted by regulations.
The government will also help build more than 5 million affordable houses for the poor in the next financial year, which goes from April 1 to March 31.
India’s stock market took a hit after Jaitley announced a 10 percent tax on some long-term capital gains, saying stock market returns were “quite attractive and it was time to bring them under the ambit of capital gains tax.”
He announced no changes for personal income tax rates.
“This is an election budget,” said M.S. Unnikirishnan of the Confederation of Indian Industry, a powerful trade group. “It’s good at the macro level with the government keeping the fiscal deficit at 3.5 percent of the gross domestic product.” India’s economy totals $2.5 trillion.
To help millions of farmers, Jaitley increased the prices for rice and other crops to at least 50 percent higher than the cost of production. Prices are currently set at a 20 percent markup. He also increased the target for farm loans by 10 percent to more than 10 billion rupees ($150 million).
Thousands of farmers take their own lives each year in India as failed harvests force them to borrow money at high interest for buying seeds, fertilizers and even food for themselves and their cattle. They often mortgage their lands.
This is the last budget of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which will seek a second five-year tenure in May 2019 national elections. The new government will determine the full-year budget for 2019-20.
The minister announced a health protection program for 100 million poor families, providing free hospitalization up to 500,000 rupees, or $7,500, a person.
He also said 80 million women would be given free connections for liquefied cooking gas, which cost about $45 apiece, and 40 million poor families would get free electricity connections, which cost from $12-$20.
India budget offers free cooking gas, health plan for poor
India budget offers free cooking gas, health plan for poor
Australia passes tougher laws on guns, hate crimes after Bondi shooting
- The gun control laws passed with the support of the Greens party despite opposition from the opposition conservative Liberal-National coalition
- The anti-hate laws passed with support from the Liberal party
SYDNEY: Australia has enacted new laws for a national gun buyback, tighter background checks for gun licenses and a crackdown on hate crimes in response to the country’s worst mass shooting in decades at a Jewish festival last month.
Two bills for stricter gun control and anti-hate measures passed the House of Representatives and Senate late on Tuesday during a special sitting of parliament.
The gun control laws passed with the support of the Greens party despite opposition from the opposition conservative Liberal-National coalition. The anti-hate laws passed with support from the Liberal party.
Introducing the gun reforms, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said individuals with “hate in their hearts and guns in their hands” carried out the December 14 attack at the famed Bondi Beach that killed 15 people.
“The tragic events at Bondi demand a comprehensive response from government,” Burke said. “As a government we must do everything we can to counter both the motivation and the method.”
The father and son gunmen allegedly behind the attack on Jewish Hanukkah celebrations used powerful firearms that were legally obtained, despite the son being previously examined by Australia’s spy agency.
PARLIAMENT RECALLED EARLY FOR SPECIAL SESSION
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recalled parliament early from its summer break for this week’s special two-day session to toughen curbs after a shooting that shocked the nation and prompted calls for more action on gun control and antisemitism.
The proposed gun control measures enable the largest national buyback scheme since a similar campaign after a 1996 massacre in Tasmania’s Port Arthur, in which a lone gunman killed 35 people.
They also toughen firearm import laws as well as background checks for firearm licenses issued by Australian states, making use of information from the Australian Security Intelligence Organization.
Australia had a record 4.1 million firearms last year, the government said on Sunday, with more than 1.1 million of those in New South Wales, its most populous state and the site of the Bondi attack.
“The sheer number of firearms currently circulating within the Australian community is unsustainable,” Burke said.
The bill passed without the support of the opposition coalition, with a vote of 96-45 in the lower house, and 38-26 in the Senate.
“This bill reveals the contempt the government has for the million gun owners of Australia,” said Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace of the Liberals.
“The prime minister has failed to recognize that guns are tools of trade for so many Australians.”
HATE CRIME PENALTIES STEPPED UP
A second bill steps up penalties for hate crimes, such as jail terms up to 12 years when a religious official or preacher is involved, and allows bans on groups deemed to spread hate.
The bill, which also provides new powers to cancel or refuse visas for those who spread hate, passed the lower house by a 116-7 margin and the Senate 38-22.
It won support from Liberal party lawmakers after ruling Labor struck a deal to include changes such as a requirement the government consult the opposition leader on the listing and delisting of extremist organizations.
The Liberals’ coalition partners abstained from the vote and the Greens opposed it, arguing it would have a “chilling effect” on political debate and protest.
“This bill targets those that support violence, in particular violence targeted at a person because of their immutable attributes,” said Attorney-General Michelle Rowland.
Such conduct is not only criminal but sows the seed of extremism leading to terrorism, she added. Police say the alleged Bondi gunmen were inspired by the Daesh group.
The measures were originally planned for a single bill, but backlash from both the coalition and the Greens forced the government to split the package and drop provisions for an offense of racial vilification.
In its own reforms, New South Wales limits individuals to possession of four guns, and beefs up the power of police to curb protests during designated terrorist attacks.
