The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rolled out its Delhi Assembly election manifesto on Wednesday, promising to ease the lives of the middle class through a host of measures for the general public. Introducing the manifesto, party leader Arvind Kejriwal also listed a seven-point charter of demands for the central government. These proposals aim to serve the interests of the middle class in the forthcoming Union Budget.
Speaking on the upcoming Budget, Kejriwal said that the whole process of the Budget has to take into consideration the middle class by making reforms in areas like education, healthcare, taxation, and senior citizen welfare. Highlighting the key demands, he said:
- Increased Education Funding: An advocate of spending a very large proportion of education, the AAP suggests that this sector’s fraction of the national budget should be increased to 10%, as opposed to 2%. Separately, the manifesto also proposes caps on private school fees to help ease the financial burden on families.
- Support for Higher Education: Subsidies and scholarships for higher education make it possible to study at a higher level of education is not a barrier cost.
- Boosting Health Budget: Part of its proposal to raise health spending is to increase health spending to 10%. The manifesto also asks for taxes on health insurance to be removed to help make medical care more affordable.
- Tax Reforms: To provide relief to middle-class earners, the party is seeking to increase the income tax exemption limit from ₹7 lakh to ₹ 10 lakh.
- Essential Goods Relief: The GST on essential commodities should be removed thereby making daily necessities cheaper for the common man, says AAP.
- Senior Citizens’ Welfare: Besides the demand for a 50% concession on rail travel for senior citizens who wish to improve their mobility as well as their financial well-being, the manifesto also contains a demand for free coaches for students and book fairs.
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