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Health

Long-term capital gains tax will fund insurance, MSPs: Jaitley

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7 years ago

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New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS) The proposed 10 per cent tax to be levied on long-term capital gains (LTCG) alone will be able to fund both the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and increased minimum support prices (MSPs) for farmers, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here on Friday.

At India TV Budget Conclave, Jaitley said it was a wrong assumption that small investors will be hit by LTCG tax.

“In reality, there were foreign financial institutions and large corporates who were gaining from LTCG. Last year alone, the profit made from LTCG was Rs 367,000 crore, and this was exempted from tax. This year, we have imposed 10 per cent tax, and this alone can fund both the MSP hike and national medical insurance scheme.”

He said that he did realise that there were risks in it, but such difficult decisions “have to be taken”.

On NHPS, Jaitley said the scheme was both a “sewa” (service) and “vyavsay” (business).

He disclosed that during the NITI Aayog public health presentation given to the Union government before the Budget, it was proposed to make the scheme universal, but “we decided to take the initial step with 10 crore poor, vulnerable families”.

“The cost component could range from Rs 7,000-10,000 crore. In a Rs 24-25 lakh crore Budget, I have kept aside Rs 2,000 crore for this scheme and shall provide more funds when necessary,” the Finance Minister said as he refused to react to his predecessor P. Chidambaram’s remark that the proposed healthcare scheme was a “jumla” (gimmick).

Asked about the availability of hospitals for implementing the ambitious healthcare scheme, Jaitley said: “Mostly Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities have large number of hospitals, but districts need 400-500 bed hospitals.

“Once the funding mechanism is decided, we hope others would come forward. This is ‘sewa’ (service) and ‘vyavsay’ (business) both. This scheme will be implemented with the help of state governments.”

Jaitley reminded that the GST Council was a model of cooperative federalism, where both the Centre and states sit together and decide taxation rates.

–IANS
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Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

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3 years ago

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May 4, 2022

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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