What Anna Hazare liked and didn't like about Budget 2012

(Disclaimer: While we wish Anna Hazare was available to give us an analysis of the budget, we had to make do with what we believed he would have said. The opinions in this article are purely Firstpost’s) [caption id=“attachment_247019” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“We believe the anti-corruption crusader would have like Pranab Mukherjee’s plan to bring back black money. Reuters”]  [/caption] Pranab Mukherjee has presented a budget today, a long one in which he even quoted Shakespeare. I wish he had quoted an Indian author instead. There are so many here. Or he could have said something from the Gita. Anyway, this is what I liked about his budget: Black money: The finance minister said they will bring back the black money that has been drained out of the economy. That is a very good thing. It will prevent these politicians from taking the money out of the country and preventing the progress of the nation. He has said they will prosecute those who have not paid tax while sending this money abroad and I say that is a very good thing. They should be whipped…err… face the strongest possible punishments for this . He also said he will present a white paper on black money. He also said that it is compulsory to report money held abroad. Now we will know who all have taken money out of the country. Anti-corruption measures: The minister has said that many anti-corruption measures will be undertaken but he did not talk about the Lokpal. That is not a good thing. He said he will do something about money laundering and benami transactions. I think these are good things but they need to take steps also. They should bring in a strong Lokpal Bill. More excise duty on cigarettes, bidis and gutka: These things are corrupting the youth of the country. The minister has done well to increase the taxes on all three of them. People should be stopped from using these things and they should only think healthy thoughts. Why he did not increase taxes on alcohol I don’t know but. We should have more tax on these things so that people do not have these bad habits. Irrigation plans: The government has decided to spend Rs 300 crore to Vidarbha Intensified Irrigation Development Programme. It is a good thing. He also announced many other plans for improving irrigation. Irrigation is very important to farmers and I have also done a lot of work in this. But the minister did not call me to ask me about tips on things like rain harvesting and other things. I might have been able to help. But a minister is a finally a politician and we cannot trust the politicians of this country anymore. Here’s what I didn’t like: Less customs duties for international travellers: The minister has raised the duty free allowance for Indians who go abroad from Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000. Arre what is the need for this? Everything that they want is available in India. They should buy swadeshi products. More service tax on everything: It is a good thing that the Finance Minister has exempted folk artists and charities  from service tax but now so many other things people have to pay service tax for. A good thing though is he has exempted friends of mine like Prashant Bhushan from paying service tax since he is an advocate providing service to a non-business entity like ours. Now these is nothing left to say on all this. We will continue our demand for a strong Lokpal Bill  and getting back the black money. Jai Hind!