Budget 2018: Mann Ki Baat is passé; listen to Common Man Ki Baat

Ahead of the budget, people of India spoke about their expectations from the annual ritual on Thursday.

New Delhi, Feb 1: Since 2014, we have been regularly listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio broadcast--Mann Ki Baat--where he speaks on various issues concerning the nation.

Over the years, critics of the Modi government have slammed the PM for indulging in an exercise which is "limited" and "one-way communication", and allegedly never addresses pressing issues of the country.

Now, it is budget time. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has arrived in Parliament to present the Union budget 2018 on Thursday.

It's a significant budget in many ways. It is the last full budget of the Modi government. It's also the first full budget after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017.

Moreover, the budget is going to be a political exercise for the Modi government to woo voters ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Moreover, this budget has to address various issues plaguing the nation, which include--slow growth rate, lack of job opportunities, crisis in the farm sector and high inflation rate, to name a few problems in the economic front.

Ahead of the presentation of budget, people of India spoke on various social media platforms to tell Jaitley what were their expectations from the annual ritual. In fact, on Twitter, the hashtag-- #CommonManKiBaat--was trending on Thursday.

Here we bring you a few tweets highlighting the expectations of people from the budget:

Key demands from a common man:

1) Reduce Income tax rates/slabs

2) With falling bank FD rates, LTCG on stocks should not be touched

3) Tax on #Petrol & #Diesel must be reduced

Do you agree?#Budget2018#CommonManKiBaat

— srinidhi acharya (@srinidhiacharya) February 1, 2018

#CommonManKiBaat I want to know has the Finance Minister addressed the Real Estate sector where the property rates are speculative. A common man spends his life long savings, all his wealth to buy a house but coz of the ministers, builders, corporates its become a MAFIA.

— Savvio (@savvio6) February 1, 2018

My big prediction for the budget: Lots of thinking required to figure out the full form of GST. Still lot of people think its General Service Tax. @moneycontrolcom #CommonManKiBaat https://t.co/CBo8O1T25R

— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) February 1, 2018

I need to check my horoscope today to check if it's right for me today to invest in Gold. @moneycontrolcom #CommonManKiBaat https://t.co/db0bVzMqmd

— Rofl Gandhi (@RoflGandhi_) February 1, 2018

Hope tax slabs will be revised on the budget 2018 #CommonManKiBaat @moneycontrolcom

— Shobha Rathi (@rathi_shobha) February 1, 2018

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