We’re dealing with concerns, not rolling back fuel hike: Pranab Mukherjee

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is in no mood to roll back the fuel price hike announced in the budget. But he said on Sunday that he will hold discussions with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition partners DMK and Trinamool Congress, who have joined forces with the opposition against the hike. Whether he is able to weather the storm will be known in Parliament this week. Excerpts from an interview.

Will you consider withdrawing the duties imposed on fuel in view of protests?
When we propose something, we do that for implementation, not rollback. There was a basic approach to the budget. Besides growth and inflation, I had to focus on fiscal consolidation. I must have resource mobilisation (so the duties).

Isn’t a rollback inevitable? What if your budget doesn’t get passed?
If the budget doesn’t get passed, the government will collapse. So, I’m not looking at that. Divergent views are there in a coalition government. But there is a mechanism to deal with them.

There’s a feeling that the changes in the income tax slabs do not benefit the aam aadmi.
You cannot club the aam aadmi with income tax payers.
In this country of 120 crore people, how many pay income tax? (In practice), monthly income of up to almost Rs25,000 is tax-exempted. Therefore, a substantial number of people are paying zero tax. You can’t improve upon that!

Why didn’t you broaden the service tax bracket?
I explained in my budget speech that we are trying to arrive at GST (goods and service tax). Negotiations are on with the states; for this reason I wanted to confine the service tax net to a few areas.

You spoke about a ‘second green revolution’. But why didn’t you make a significant allocation for it?
The revolution will mean improved seeds, land reforms, and better irrigation and storage facilities.
Provisions have been made for these areas. There won’t be any dearth of funds.

You said the budget is meant for young India. What did you mean?
The young generation wants investment in science, research and development, skills development, etc. We have focused on all this.