what women want from union budget

As the Union government has intensified preparations for presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 on February 1, women from several walks of life in the State have come forward to demand that the Central government address and redress their grievances by earmarking sufficient funds for their welfare.

The senior citizen women should be given priority in health care facilities. As women work so hard for their entire life without caring for their health, their needs have to be taken care of. Government should come up with a healthcare scheme especially for women as the medical expenditure has gone multifold, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Amita Sharma, retired bank employee, Hyderabad

Government should provide concessions for travelling expenses. Women in Delhi Metro are provided free travel. Similarly, the government should make travelling a little cheaper. The GST in every commodity is making the prices go up. There should be less tax.

- Puja Jopat, homemaker, Hyderabad

Due to increase in price of gold, there is a steep decline in jewellery sales over the last one year and the jewelers are facing adverse impact of the slowdown because of the increase in gold prices. I request the Centre to reduce import duty on the yellow metal.

- A Kavitha, school teacher, Adilabad

Private school teachers have been suffering due to pandemic and are planning to leave the profession. I appeal the Centre to allocate some funds for the private school teachers who are into the noble profession.

- Suma Latha, a private school teacher, Nalgonda

There should be an increase in the income tax exemption limits under Section 80C for women. Since women generally earn less than their male counterparts, increase in tax exemption limits help working women to manage a little extra money in hand.

- K Padmavathi, Khammam

GST on cosmetic prices should be cut slightly. Even the tax on sanitary products is so high, it should be cut making it affordable for even poor women.

- Maddikuntla Sowmya, homemaker, Adilabad

Government needs to take steps to monitor price rise of food products. After the unlock, the prices of pulses, vegetables and LPG gas cylinders have gone considerably high. It has become very difficult for poor and middle class to manage their finance with the meagre income.

- G Sangeetha, homemaker, Adilabad

The best I can expect from the Union budget is to help reduce the increasing prices of vegetables and other groceries. The union budget can reduce the taxes on fuel, which is the root cause of inflation in the country.

- Sri Laxmi, private employee, Mahbubnagar

I ask for adequate budget for youth so that more skill development training could be imparted for gaining better job opportunities. Allocation of budget to create more jobs would help a great deal.

- Banavath Chittemma, private school teacher, Kaverammapet

I appeal to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to provide agriculture and industrial loans without interest to women to strengthen the economic status of the country. The government should start skill development centres for women across the country.

- Royya Rani, lecturer at a private college, Nalgonda

The Centre should allocate 6% of GDP to education to meet the goals and steps proposed by National Education Policy-2020 and should exclude teaching community from paying income tax.

- C Umarani, Manodarpan, MoE, Government of India.

These days both the husband and the wife work and thus we look forward to Finance Minister introducing tax deductions on the expenses incurred for various day care facilities or crèche centres. Apart from the long-pending demand of a 'paternity leave,' women want more funds towards their safety across the country.

- M Swapna, private employee, Khammam

The union budget has never given priority for women, particularly for homemakers. The Centre should at least allocate funds for providing self-employment and enable bank loans for them, so that the homemakers could also earn and become financially independent.

- Laxmi Devi, homemaker, Jadcherla

Corona has taught many things to the society, especially the financial discipline. I request the Central government to provide income tax exemption for women for a period of one year to overcome the financial burden besides providing loans to poor women to start their own business.

- J Uma Rani, Balaji Nursing College correspondent, Nalgonda

The government should be able to keep the prices of essential commodities in control so that even poor can afford them. Further it should provide tax exemptions on several goods, especially fuel.

- Nagendra, homemaker, Nalgonda