Refraining from tinkering with tax and duty rates in the interim Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday made a huge allocation of Rs 30,100 crore to government's flagship rural employment programme and many other schemes in a bid to counter the economic recession.

Despite the fact that revised estimates for tax collections during 2008-09 is projected at Rs 627,949 crore as against the budget estimate of Rs 687,715 crore, the minister resisted the temptation of giving sops since it is an interim budget with General Elections just a few months away.