Govt should restore income tax exemption on disability pension to soldiers: Manish Tiwari

Congress MP Manish Tiwari on Thursday demanded the government to restore income tax exemption on disability pension to soldiers. ''Chandigarh is home to a large number of ex-servicemen who served this country with great honour and valour, safeguarding our frontiers at the peril of their lives,'' Tiwari, the Congress MP from Chandigarh, said in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour. It is unfortunate that in the Finance Bill 2026, Para 108, the income tax exemption on service element plus disability has been restricted to only those servicemen who have been invalidated out of service, Tiwari said. The Bill proposes to terminate tax benefits accruing from disability pension to those soldiers who have served and superannuated with disabilities, he said. ''This is a clear breach of Article 14 of the Constitution,'' he added. Tiwari urged the government to restore income tax exemption on disability pension to soldiers when the Lok Sabha discusses the Finance Bill 2026. The Bill will come up for discussion and passage in the next leg of the Budget Session beginning March 9. The tax exemption for disability pension, which was provided for in the Income Tax Act, 1922, was continued in the Income Tax Act, 1961. Tiwari also demanded that the pending allocation for social security schemes for the Union territory of Chandigarh be released immediately. He claimed that the money earmarked for social security schemes like old-age pension and widow pension has been pending since October.