| At a meeting with Chidambaram, the MPs suggested abolition of Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT), tax holidays for the entertainment industry, weather index-based insurance scheme for farmers, raising of import duty on edible oil and increase in expenditure on education up to 6 per cent of the GDP. |
| The finance minister gave a patient hearing and noted down the suggestions, which he said would be considered during the preparation of the Budget. |
| Making a strong pitch for the entertainment industry, MP Rajiv Shukla said PricewaterhouseCoopers had estimated the industry size at Rs 80,000 crore by 2010 and therefore the government should give it some tax breaks. He termed the FBT as "unjustified." |
| Shukla suggested that the finance minister should re-look at some education schemes, like the adult education scheme, which were not serving any purpose. Indian farmers' interests should be kept in mind while deciding about edible oil imports, he added. |
| Deepender Singh Hooda, who led the young MPs, said the Congress had sought spending of 6 per cent of the GDP on education. The proposal had been put on the backburner as it was not an election issue, he added. |
| As India was a nation of the young, the government had to think about raising expenditure on education up to the mandated level, he said. |
| His other suggestions included raising the number of vocational training institutions from 12,000 to 2 lakh in the next two years, at least one teachers' training institute in every state, one community college in each district, and a hike in expenditure on research and development in the education sector. |
| He demanded Rs 100 crore for the Haryana Agriculture University in Hisar and increase in import duty on edible oil saying farmers, especially mustard-growers in Haryana and Rajasthan, were suffering. |
| Jyotiraditya Scindia dwelt on the problems faced by farmers and weavers. He advocated a weather insurance scheme for farmers, apart from the existing crop insurance scheme. |
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