Pressing for a people-friendly Budget for 2013-14, trade unions today urged Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his team to announce the constitution of the seventh pay commission along with raising the income tax threshold to Rs 5 lakh in a year from the present Rs 2 lakh.
The demand was raised by the unions at a pre-Budget consultations in the North Block, even as the government is struggling hard to rein in its fiscal deficit.
After the meeting, Harbhajan Singh Siddhu of Hind Mazdoor Sabha said already seven years of the sixth pay commission have passed and any new commission will take two-three years to study. "The revision of wages and various service conditions of the government employees is already due. Constitution of the seventh Pay Commission be announced in the Budget," joint recommendations of trade unions, including CPI (M)-affiliated CITU, CPI-linked AITUC, INTUC of the Congress and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh to the Finance Minister said.
Also, the unions have demanded the income tax exemption ceiling for the salaried persons should be raised to Rs 5 lakh per annum and fringe benefits like housing, medical and educational facilities should be exempted from the income tax net in totality.