Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], January 30 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman is all set to present the Union Budget 2023 on February 1. The people of Chhattisgarh are having high expectations as it is the last budget of the second term of the Modi government.

An economist R K Brahma said, "The country has received good revenue this year, so we can expect the overall economic development of the country from the Finance Minister. It is expected that the budget allocation on infrastructure, social and welfare schemes will increase. Besides, everyone will have an eye on the deficit between the revenue and the expenditure. There is also a challenge to control the deficit because our deficit is over 6 per cent, we have to control that too gradually.""Since last year we are seeing that inflation is high due to many other reasons. Whether due to supply, inflation has affected everyone. Especially the middle class, which is paying the highest income tax, the text rates have not changed for a long time. The middle class people are thinking that their purchasing power is slightly down, so it is expected that its taxes will be reduced and the middle class will get some relief," he added.

An educationist Jawahar Suri Shetty said, "I expect two-three things. First, in the National Education Policy, 6 per cent of GDP was said to be spent on education. Now it is around 3 per cent, so I think there will be more provision in the budget this time to fix it. The second is that there are some anomalies in the GST, those anomalies are less beneficial in the field of education, so it seems that it will be resolved. The third is the expenses on training of teachers for NEP."Businessman Rajkumar Rathi said, "Our demand is that the tax on medicines should be abolished completely because medicine is such a commodity, even if it is cheap, people will buy it according to their needs.The government should increase the tax on drugs and things used by the upper class as it will not make much difference to the people of the upper class. This will also give income to the government and people will go away from intoxicants. The general public wants such a budget that should provide convenience to the general public."All those decisions which are in the interest of the employees should be taken in the budget. Inflation is the main issue. Income tax exemption range should be increased. In today's time, the small employees who are getting the payment are deducted in the income tax. It worsens their economic condition, a government employee, Santosh Kumar Soni said.

"We will have high hopes for IT in the budget. The way the central government has shown a proactive approach regarding technology in the last few years. I am sure that like in the previous years this year too, there will be something good to see in this budget regarding the IT sector," said an IT employee, Amarendra Giri.

A housewife Pinky Thakur said, "A woman wants concessions in the kitchen. She has to manage everything in her kitchen as well as children's education, medicine for elders and if the house is a joint family, then the problem increases further. In such a situation, we want the prices of everything used in the kitchen such as gas, milk, bread etc, to be reduced."A farmer Parasnath Sahu said, "The cost of agriculture has increased so much that its cost is not being recovered. We want 50 per cent of the total budget in the agriculture budget so that the MSP can be guaranteed and it can also get a fair price. Inflation in fuel pieces and chemical fertilisers can also be met in it. Today the guarantee of MSP has taken the form of a movement, today it is not only extended to Delhi but also to every farmer of India. That's why we want this time's budget to be in favour of the farmers." (ANI)