In a First, Government Seeks Budget Inputs on Twitter

New Delhi: In a first of its kind of exercise to gauge public mood, the Finance Ministry on Wednesday invited people to vote on Twitter for the group they want the budget 2016-17 to focus more on - farmers, middle class, women or the underprivileged.

The ministry also wants to know public opinion as to which sectors - agriculture or industry or service - should get priority in the budget, which will be unveiled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 29.

People can exercise their voting option on the official Twitter handle of the Ministry of Finance. The voting would remain open for the next 6 days.

"Your views matter! Which sector (Agriculture/Industry/Service) need more focus in Budget2016? Vote and give your suggestions," a Finance Ministry Tweet said.

In another Tweet, it said, "Which section (farmers/middle class/youth & women/ underprivileged) need more focus in Budget 2016? Vote and give your suggestions."

Although there is still time for voting to conclude, the Twitterati in their initial phase suggested that focus should be on farmers, followed by middle class, youth and women, and the underprivileged.

Many netizens have suggested that middle class should be given larger tax exemptions as it would encourage savings, while few others wanted government to do more for the farmers and underprivileged sections of the society.

As regards the sectors, the initial voting pattern suggested clear preference for agriculture, followed by industry and services.

In December, the Finance Ministry had invited suggestions and views from public for Rail Union Budget 2016-17. They can be posted on the 'mygov' portal.

Mr Jaitley has already held extensive pre-budget consultations with various stakeholders, including economists, industry chambers, trade unions, social sector as well as banks and financial institutions.

In his meeting with the Consultative Committee attached to the Finance Ministry, Mr Jaitley had said that budget for the next fiscal year needs to provide Rs 1.10 lakh crore for implementing the One Rank One Pension (OROP) and the Seventh Pay Commission award, besides a higher allocation for the farm sector.

Agriculture growth in the last two years has suffered mainly due to insufficient monsoons.

"More incentives will be given to agriculture sector for increasing agriculture production and productivity," he had said.

Finance Minister's budget team comprises Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya. The official team is led by Finance Secretary Ratan Watal, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and Disinvestment Secretary Neeraj Kumar Gupta.