New Delhi:
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday made some important announcements during his speech as he presented Union Budget 2018.
In a bid to calm down the increasing farmer’s unrest across the country, Jaitley’s budget included Rs 2,000 crore fund to be set up for upgrading rural agriculture markets.
Apart from Agriculture, education and cleanliness are the other areas Jaitley has tried to include in his govt’s last full budget.
Here are the key announcements of Modi govt’s last full budget:
Agriculture
# Rs 2,000 crore fund to be set up for upgrading rural agriculture markets.
# Emphasis on generating higher income for farmers; want to help farmers produce more and realize higher prices.
# Govt will ensure farmers get MSP if prices fall; Niti Aayog will discuss with state govts for mechanism to ensure farmers get better prices: FM
# Govt will allocate Rs 500 cr for 'operation green' to promote FPOs, agriculture logistics, and processing.
Education
# We have managed to get children to school but the quality of education still a concern.
# To increase digital intensity in education; to move from Blackboard to digital board.
# Education to be treated holistically without segmentation from class nursery to 12th, says FM.
# Govt to launch 'Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education by 2022: FM Jaitley
# By 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people will have 'Ekalavya' school at par with Navodaya Vidayalas
# Finance Minister says will set up PM Research Fellow Scheme; 1000 B-Tech students to be selected. Jaitley says two new planning and architecture schools to be set up in IITs.
Health
# Have decided to take healthcare protection to a new aspirational level. Launching a flagship National Health Protection Scheme to cover 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, benefiting approx. 50 crore: FM
# We have allocated 1200 crore allocated for health wellness centers. Rs 5 lakh per family per year for 10 crore poor families. The world's largest govt funded program: FM Jaitley
# Under the Health Protection Scheme, 10 cr poor & vulnerable families, with 50 cr beneficiaries will benefit through up to Rs. 5 lakh/family/year health cover.
# 24 new govt medical colleges and hospitals to be set up by upgrading existing district hospitals.
Others
# We have constructed 6 crore toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, our aim is to build 2 crores more toilets: FM Jaitley
# Special scheme to support efforts of Haryana, Punjab, UP PTI ANZ DV and Delhi to tackle air pollution through use of in-situ machinery for disposing crop residue: FM Jaitley
# Govt proposes to increase the target of providing free LPG connections to 8 crore to poor women: FM Jaitley
# Cleaning of Ganga is of national importance, have sanctioned 187 projects under NAMAMI Ganga scheme: FM Jaitley
# Have proposed construction of tunnel under the Se-La pass in Arunachal Pradesh: FM Jaitley
# Proposal to develop 10 prominent tourist destinations as Iconic tourism destinations: Arun Jaitley
# AMRUT program to focus on the water supply to all households in 500 cities. Water supply contracts for 494 projects worth 19,428 core awarded: FM Jaitley
