Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today presented the government's last full Union Budget. The Budget 2018 lays major emphasis on agriculture, education, ease of living for poor and health.
In the introduction to his speech Jaitley stressed on a government based on honesty, adding that PM Modi promised to build ¡°a strong and confident new India¡±. Indian economy is now 2.5 trillion-dollar economy in the world and will very soon become the fifth largest economy, he added.
¡°There was a time when corruption was the norm. But today's youth wants to lead a life on honesty. There is a premium on honesty...The government led by PM Modi have successfully implemented a series of structural reforms...Indian economy has performed very well since our government took over in May 2014. It is now the seventh largest in the world,¡± Jaitley said.
The economy is expected to grow at 7.2-7.5% in the second half of 2018-19, Jaitley said.
Here are the key announcements made by the FM.
Giving a big boost to providing power in the remotest areas of the country, Arun Jaitley announced the launch of Pradhan Mantri Saubhagya Yojana.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachch Bharat mission has been scripting grand success. Taking it forward, Jaitley said that the government plans to construct 2 Crore more toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Jaitley proposed to increase the target of providing free LPG connections to 8 crore to poor women.
The government has proposed the allocation of Rs 500 crores for ¡®Operation Green¡¯ in a move to focus on crop sustenance, agricultural logistics. Jailtley added that an Agri-Market Development Fund? with a corpus of 2000 crore will be created for developing agricultural markets. Jaitley proposed the launch of a restructure national bamboo mission with Rs 10,000 crore allocated to the fisheries and animal husbandry sectors.?
The government has been under scanner after country-wide protests took place in 2017 on the dismal state of farmers and the rising rate of farmer suicide.
¡°We had sought to effect a paradigm shift in farm sector. I am very happy to announce that minimum support price has been set at 1.5 times the production cost for kharif crops,¡± Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. The FM added that the government will focus on farm and non-form employment generation.
If the prices are lower than MSP then the government will have to ensure that farmers get MSP or an apt price for their products.
Delhi-NCR has been reeling under intense air pollution, choking the residents, since last few months. Jaitley made a key announcement to tackle air pollution in these areas.
Rural development, health, education, infrastructure and education remain the key areas of focus for the government: