Finance Minister P Chidambaram will begin customary pre-budget consultations from Friday when he meets representatives of the farm sector, which remains a gray area amid the booming economy, and trade unions, the most vocal critics of economic reforms.

The meeting with farm sector representatives is quite important as agriculture has shown subdued average growth of just 2.6 per cent in the last eighth quarters.

According to official figures, negative growth was shown in Rabi foodgrains, particularly wheat and pulses. The agri-representatives are expected to demand more investment in the farm sector and greater focus on irrigation to increase productivity.

Trade union sources said they are trying to come out with a joint memorandum to be taken up at the meeting. Sources in the Left trade unions, the ardent critics of economic reforms, said their representatives would like the government to address concerns of the people.

Fifteen years of economic reforms have made crisis in the lives of the people more profound, they said.

The unions, particularly Left, would ask the finance minister to go for alternative pro-people policies and impose higher corporate and personal income taxes on the rich class to increase the tax-GDP ratio.

They would demand introduction of inheritance tax and restoration of long-term capital gains tax, the sources said.

The unions would pitch in for higher interest rates on special deposit schemes which would enable Employees Provident Fund Organisation to disburse greater interest rates to its more than four crore subscribers.