guwahati from more central higher and technical education institutes to better connectivity from job reservations in central psus to increasing tax on cigarettes bidis and smokeless tobacco the northeast has a big wish list for the union budget which will be presented on friday all assam students union aasu chief advisor samujjal bhattacharya said i am not an economist who can got into the nittygritty of a budget but i can say what we hope for our hopes are that this budget would have proposals that ensure a better quality of life for the indigenous people of assam and the northeastwe want some new educational institutes like the indian institute of science education and research being set up in assam and we want to see that proposed in this budget we need an iim in assam an organisation for new discoveries and research on our medicinal plants and a research organisation for brahmaputra and other riverswe also want reservation in c and d category of jobs in central psus for eligible unemployed of the northeast besides a timebound action plan for improving our surface communication network we also hope that assams annual flood will be declared a national problem as it has devastated our agriculture sector bhattacharya saidthe state consumers legal protection forum has endorsed the centres proposal to include cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in the highest tax slab for its longlasting impact on the lives of the millions of tobacco users in the country public health organisations have said this will provide a solid foundation for reducing tobacco usage among vulnerable populationsadvocate ajoy hazarika secretary of the forum said that despite positive moves of the government in 2017 present gst rates combined with the compensation cess for all tobacco products are far below the 75 level of tax burden recommended by the whohe added that contrary to the claims made by the tobacco industry the overall tax rate on all tobacco products in india is still very low compared to other middleincome countries which encourages tobacco consumptionby categorising cigarettes and smokeless tobacco as demerit goods under gst and levying the highest gst rate of 28 plus cess on these the centre has prevented millions of youth from tobacco initiation and lifelong addiction gst council must also impose a compensation cess on bidis like that on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco as they are widely consumed by weaker sections of society he added