Union Budget 2018: Here Are The Major Highlights Of Arun Jaitley's Budget
This is the last full Budget of Narendra Modi government.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is presenting the Union Budget 2018 in Parliament. The Railway Budget will be included in the General Budget. This is the last full Budget of Narendra Modi government.
Earlier on Monday, the government tabled the Economic Survey 2017-18 in Parliament, in which it pegged India¡¯s growth at 7 and 7.5 in the upcoming financial year.
Here are the key highlights of the Union Budget 2018:
* Govt will set up two new Schools of Planning and Architecture, says Finance Minister Jaitley.
* To tackle brain drain, Jaitley announces scheme to identify bright students pursuing B Tech in premiere engineering institutes, and providing them higher-education opportunities in the IITs and IISc. These students will receive handsome fellowships, and will be expected to dedicate a few hours to teach in higher education institutions weekly.
* Specialised railway university to be set up at Vadodara.
* Jaitley proposed integrated BEd programme for teachers: "training of teachers during service is essential." Technology will be the biggest driver in improving the quality of education.
* Budget allocates money for social security and protection programme for all widows and orphaned children.
* We have a target to provide all Indians with their own homes by 2022, says Jaitley.
* Ujjwala scheme to amplify targets, will now provide 8 crore rural women free LPG connections.
* Air pollution in Delhi-NCR has been a cause of concern, govt has proposed subsidised machinery for in-situ management of crop residue in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT Delhi.
* Govt of India will take necessary measures to put in place measures for the state government to purchase surplus solar power produced by local farmers at sutiable prices.
* Arun Jaitley proposes a sum of Rs 500 crore for 'Operation Green' on the lines of 'Operation Flood'.
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* Food processing sector is going at an average of 8 per cent per annum.
* We have been saying it for years that India is primarily an agricultural country: Jaitley
* Arun Jaitley on Minimum Support Price of agricultural products: Only increasing the MSP is not enough, the government will fix the MSP of agricultural products at 1.5 times the market rate.
* Our emphasis is on generating higher benefits and productive employment for the farmers: Jaitley while addressing the agricultural sector in his Budget speech 2018.
* Our government has worked sincerely, and without weighing the political costs, hoping that benefits are delivered to people at their doorsteps. The Direct Benefit Transfer system of India is a success story that is reiterated across the world: Jaitley.
* This year's Budget will particularly focus on agriculture, says Jaitley.
* The finance minister also pointed out that India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
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* Indian economy has performed very well since our government took over in May 2014, says Arun Jaitley.
* Arun Jaitey recalls the measures -- like GST, FDI, demonetisation, etc. -- taken by the NDA government in the past four years that have impacted the economy of the country.
* Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents Union Budget 2018-19 in Parliament.
* The cabinet, in a meeting, approved the Budget.
* Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has arrived in the Parliament to present his Budget for the year 2018-19.
* The Budget of 2018 is India's first after the implementation of the Goods and Services tax (GST) in June last year.
