Image for illustration purposes only. | Photo credit: Manoj Kumar
Leaders of various unions met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Thursday for the usual pre-Budget consultations and submitted a memorandum demanding that resource mobilization must be done by raising corporate income tax, wealth tax and introducing inheritance tax instead of burdening the usual masses of GST on basic food and medicine. Unions urged Ms. Sitharaman to raise the income tax cap for pay grades and the cap on gratuity should be removed. When the ten central unions submitted a joint memorandum, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh submitted a set of demands separately.
The union leaders urged the finance minister to focus on improving the purchasing power of the common people in the country and to try to increase domestic demand. They said that the tax structure could be changed to help working people and that the coverage of social security mechanisms needs to be expanded in view of the overall uncertainty in the society. They said wage agreements are not being implemented even in public enterprises and asked the center to increase spending in the social sector.
Regarding the status of approximately one billion workers under the scheme in the country, the BMS memorandum said that the Union and state governments must recognize these workers as their employees in view of the permanent and essential nature of their duties. “We suggest that until regularization is done, the government should increase its honorarium, which has not been revised since 2018 despite significant inflation,” BMS demanded.
Ten ČTÚ said in their memorandum that the 45th Indian Labor Conference had recommended a “worker status” scheme for all workers, but it had not yet been implemented. They demanded that the benefits of the employee state insurance company be extended to the workers of the system. “Ensure allocation of funds to implement the Supreme Court order on gratuity for Anganwadi workers and helpers and extend it to all workers of the scheme,” they said.
The BMS demanded that MGNREGA be expanded to guarantee 200 days of work per family and that the Employment Guarantee Act be linked to agriculture, allied sectors, rural areas, micro and small enterprises and village industries. The BMS has requested the Center to proportionately increase the budgetary allocation for this scheme by increasing the wages.
The CTU noted that wealth inequality among people in the country had reached “obscene levels”, unacceptable in a civilized society. “Corporate tax rates have been unfairly reduced over the decades, and at the same time the indirect tax burden on ordinary people has increased, resulting in a completely regressive tax structure. This must be corrected in the interests of fairness, justice and decency. Even a one percent inheritance tax for the super-rich with a ceiling can bring huge amounts to budget revenues. It can be immediately used to finance the H. food sector, health and other essential social foods, education in the area health care and health insurance must be drastically reduced,” they said.
Demanding that the new pension scheme must be scrapped and the old pension scheme restored, the CTO said the minimum provident pension must be increased from ₹1,000 to ₹9,000 and should be linked to DA. “Budgetary funds should be allocated,” they said, adding that the 8th Pay Commission should be set up immediately. “Pensioners should continue to be covered by it, thereby repealing the Validation Act passed through the Finance Act in the previous budget,” the memorandum added.
Published – 20 Nov 2025 21:34 IST
