Sure, fiscal policy should recognize and strengthen the family as an institution. The way to strengthen the institution is to allow families to invest in the members' educational and health imperatives. All such investments should be outside of any tax net, be it Goods and Services Tax, be it Income tax.
Have the management pundits figured out the contribution made by mothers to the nation's GDP?
Kalyanaraman
Deprive parent deserters of tax credits, says IIM
[ Considering the increase in number of Indians pushing their parents to old age homes, faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad provided a solution to the policy makers.
AHMEDABAD: Considering the increase in number of Indians pushing their parents to old age homes, faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) provided a solution to the policy makers.
"The government should give tax credits to people who stay with their parents. There is a limit to the number of old age homes that anyone can build but there is a need of such homes as people do not want to stay with their ageing parents. So, if we cannot make social and value changes, then we can make it economically viable for the nation. This will encourage more families to stay together, leading to a reduction in the total cost of the nation," said Dheeraj Sharma, faculty in marketing and organizational behaviour, who had organized a meeting of IIM-A professors with top politicians and government officials in New Delhi last week to discuss such challenges.
The meet—Vision 2024 Imperatives for Public Policy—saw 20 IIM-A professors meet over 100 government officials and ministers, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of communications and information technology; Piyush Goyal from ministry of power; Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister of state for I&B; Satyapal Singh, member of parliament; and Subramanian Swamy, former cabinet minister.
According to Sharma, the primary purpose of the meet was to initiate a dialogue between policy makers, implementers and researchers. The faculty members presented significant research to about 14 different ministries like home affairs, defence, health, education, power, rural development, agriculture, IT, among others.
"We got perspective from senior government officials on public policy. The agenda was to have a dialogue, the outcome of which will be a compendium that will be presented to the ministries and the Prime Minister's Office. Our aim is to help in development of better policies than before while keeping a balance between political, social, technological and economic realities," said Sharma.
The professors presented research, management techniques and strategies that can augment the present policies. For instance, the faculty suggested that skill development be made a compulsory subject for Class 10, 11 and 12 so that every student who is 12th pass is skilled in at least one field.