This has been indicated by finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in a recent interview to the US-based international magazine, that the tax exemption on agricultural income enjoyed by rich farmers needs to go.

Of the near 100 crore population in the country, only 1.5 crore paid income tax despite the fact that there was a large middle class of about 30 crore which is almost the total population of the United States.

"This is a very small number of people. Many more people should be paying income tax than the present number would suggest and we need to take steps for better compliance," finance minister Yashwant Sinha said.

Earlier Sinha had said at the parliamentary consultative committee meeting that he was left with no soft option while presenting the budget in the wake of the difficult economicsituation.

Hard decisions had to be taken as widening fiscal, trade and current account deficits were putting pressure on the balance of payments situation, Sinha was quoted as saying by an official press release.