Mumbai: "Something is better than nothing. So the personal income tax exemption limit for senior citizens which has been increased by Rs15,000, is good news," said 77-year-old Suhasini Waingankar, a Matunga resident.

However, septuagenarian Raman Naidu is not impressed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget. "Raising of the tax limit for senior citizens by from Rs2.25 lakh to Rs2.40 lakh is hardly anything. They could have raised it to at least Rs3 lakh. The provisions offered in the budget are just crumbs given to senior citizens," said the Mulund resident, who was glued to his television set during the FM's budget announcement.

Senior citizens who had hoped the budget would be "age-friendly," were disappointed. The country's nine crore elderly people are mainly concerned with safety, income security and pension, health benefits and raising tax exemption limit, in that order.

"We had hoped it would address concerns about pension, income security and increase tax exemption limit. We have been giving so many petitions to the finance minister over the past five to six years. Yet, every year, we see almost nothing for senior citizens in the budget. I would say our expectations have dropped and so even this budget is not that surprising," said Sheilu Shrinivasan of Dignity Foundation.

"Many elderly in this country, like me, do not even get old age pension," said Devyani Sharma, who lives with her daughter. HelpAge India, an NGO, had also written to the FM asking for an "age-friendly budget" for seniors. "We had urged the government to free all those above 80 years of age from all taxes," said a spokesperson.

Reverse mortgage -- introduced in last year's budget -- which allows senior citizens to mortgage their house, thus ensuring regular fund without having to lose ownership of property has been made more tax friendly. "However, it remains to be seen just how tax-friendly it is,' said Sharma, who has availed of this scheme.

The budget has also proposed that the amount deposited in the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme be included under 80C, which will result in a tax benefit of up to Rs1,00,000.

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