Hon. Members may be aware that under an existing provision in section 197 a of the income tax act, individuals not having any tax liability can obtain payments without deducation of tax at source by furnishing a declaration in writing in duplicate in the prescribed form. I propose to make some modifications to the proposals in the bill relating to deducation of tax at source from certain payments. The requirement to deduct tax from interest on bank deposits will apply only to interest on term deposits other than recurring deposits. Further, cooperative had mortgage banks, cooperative land development banks, primary agricultural credit societies and primary credit will be taken out of the purview of this requirement. We have would thus exclude from the ambit of tas deducation at source most of the depositors from rural areas. Further, I am sure that these modifications will ensure that the small tax payers are not to any harassment as a result of the proposed requirement of deducation of tax at source from bank interest and withdrawals from the national saving scheme. Hon. Members would recall that I had stated in my budget speech that the credit institutions will have the freedom to pass on the burden of interest tax to the borrowers by adjusting suitably the rate of interest. It has been brought to my notice that in many case where term loans have already been sanctioned, the credit institutions may be able to vary the rate of interest because I propose to move an amendment to the bill to provide overriding legal authority to the institutions to vary the rate of interest, if they so desire, in order to pass on the burden of interest tax to the borrowers. Further, I also propose to exempt from the would out is. We are told again and again by the agriculture minister that everything was all right as far as the agricultural sector. This has assumed such a large proportion that there must be a concerted effort to eradicate this evi. The Hon. Minister has appealed to the public to help in the eradication of this evil. I will come forward with some of the suggestions later, but as the hon. Member, Dr. Jain, has said, a lot of effort has gone into this thinking about the electoral reforms. The performance of the railways is satisfactory when we see the data provided by the minister. The growth of passenger traffic is 5 percent. There is control on the working expenses. By putting in extra efforts, the earnings are increasing at a satisfactory level.
