Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget of FY 2021-22 on 1 February today. In this budget, she made many big announcements.
In the budget, the finance minister announced several new schemes. There is no change in the tax slab, but the Finance Minister has given great relief to the elderly above 75.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in Union Budget 2021 made special packages for Assam as well. We will discuss them is the later part of the article.
- Urban Jal Jeevan Mission will be launched. Under this, 2.86 crore households will be given tap connections. 2.87 lakh crores will be spent in 5 years.
- Mission Nutrition 2.0 will be launched, merging the supplementary nutrition program and nutrition campaign.
- Investment in the health sector is being increased. PM Self-Reliant Healthy India Scheme will start. 64,180 crore will be spent in 6 years. There will be an edition of the National Health Mission. Will support 7000 rural and 11000 urban health and wellness centres. Healthcare systems’ capacity will develop; institutions will be developed to detect and cure new diseases.
- Seventeen new public health units will be started. Seventy-five thousand new health centres will be built in the country.
- Critical care hospitals will be built in 602 blocks.
- So far, the pneumococcal vaccine limited to 5 states will now be available in the entire country. This will prevent the death of 50,000 children annually.
- 11,41,676 crores will be spent on Swachh Bharat 2.0 Urban.
- 35 thousand crores for the Covid vaccine.
- Urban Clean India Mission 2.0 will be launched. Urban Clean India Mission 2.0 will be implemented over 5 years from 2021 with a total financial allocation of Rs 1,41,678 crore.
- Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres with a population of more than 10 lakhs to tackle the growing problem of air pollution
- Integrated Health Info Portal will be strengthened.
- Declaration of Voluntary Vehicle Scrapping Policy. 20 years personal vehicle, 15 years commercial vehicle will be considered old or unfit.
- 4 National Institute of Virology will be formed.
- Automated fitness centre will be formed.
- Mega Investment Textile Park Scheme will be launched. 7 textile parks to be built in 3 years.m
- 2 thousand crores in 5 years for air clean.
- National Rail Scheme for Railways 2030.
- 1.18 lakh crore to the Ministry of Transport.
- Rs 11 thousand crore proposal for metro. Two types of Metro service will be started, Metro Light and Metro Neo Services. Metro service for Tier 1 and Tier 2.
- 1 lakh 10 thousand 55 crores for the railways. There will be an emphasis on Make in India in the railways.
- 18 thousand crores for public bus
- 8500 km of road will be built next year. 25 thousand crores for new roads in Bengal. 35 thousand crores for roads in Assam. Upgradation of Kolkata-Siliguri Road. 1 lakh crores for the highway in Tamil Nadu,
- 65 thousand crores for Kanyakumari Corridor.
- Seven Port Projects worth more than 70 million offered by major ports in PPP mode in FY 2021-22.
- The comprehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission will be launched as announced by PM Modi at the Third Reinvest Conference in November 2020. This will help in generating hydrogen from green energy sources.
- A national monetization pipeline of potential land area infrastructure assets will be launched; asset monetization dashboard will be created which will track the work related to checking progress and facilitating investors.
- Big announcement about electricity. The customer can choose the electricity company himself.
- Permanent Institution Framework will be created for the corporate bond market. SEBI will be the regulator for the gold exchange. Declaration of Investor Charter.
- Amendment to the Insurance Act of 1938. FDI up to 74% allowed in insurance companies.
- Recapitalization of PSBs: 20000 crores will be poured into the new financial year.
- A big announcement by the government about bad debts: management company will be formed on submerged obligations. On sinking the bank, now you will get up to 5 lakh rupees instead of 1 lakh rupees.
- 20 thousand crores assistance to government banks.
- 1 crore families will be added from Ujjwala scheme. 100 new cities will be connected to gas distribution.
- Several PSUs will be disinvested next year and, the process will be expedited. BPCL will be disinvested in the next financial year.
- The budget rests on 6 pillars. First pillar – health and welfare, second – physical and financial capital and infrastructure, third – inclusive growth for aspiring India, communicating innovation in human capital, 5th – innovation, research and development, 6th – minimum government and maximum governance.
- Financial deficit target increased from 6.9 percent to 9.5 percent.
- Under the ownership scheme, 1.8 lakh people have got the card. In 2021, all states and union territories will be brought under its purview.
- A portal will be made for the workers of unorganized sector. Apart from this, health, housing and food schemes will start for the building construction worker.
- In addition to tomatoes, onions and potatoes, 22 perishable crops will be included in Operation Green Scheme.
- Agriculture infra cess will be imposed on some goods. Its benefit will be given to the farmers.
- Agriculture infrastructure fund will be formed—allocation of 40 thousand crores. APMC will be brought under the purview of Agri Fund.
- 1 thousand new mandis for e-NAM.
- 5 new ports for fish business
- One Nation One Card implemented in 31 states. One Nation One Card up to 71 crore people. Ration card portability will be brought.
- 22 more products to be included in exports of agricultural products
- 15 thousand crores for the strengthening of MSMEs.
- 5 thousand crores for micro irrigation fund.`
- Women will be able to work in every shift.
- All workers will be given minimum wages.
- More than 100 new military schools will be opened.
- A new central university will open in Leh.
- 750 Eklavya Residential Schools will be formed in tribal areas.
- Quality will be improved in more than 15 thousand schools
- Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes. Allocation of 35219 crore, 4 crore schedule cost students will benefit.
- Commission will be made for higher education.
- Declaration of the incentive scheme to promote digital payments. Allocation of 1500 crores.
- Food Security Scheme for Migrant Laborers.
- National Nursing and Midwifery Commission will be formed. The population count will be digitized which will be the first digital census of the country.
- 1000 crores through special scheme for tea workers. Tea workers of Assam and West Bengal will get the benefit of this.
- The fiscal deficit is projected to be 6.8 per cent of GDP in the 2021–22 fiscal year. Gross borrowing from the market will be Rs 12 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit was 9.5 per cent in 2020-21.
- Emergency fund 30 thousand crores.
- Tax relief to senior citizens above 75 years of age who receive interest only from pension and deposits.
- Additional relief of up to Rs 1.5 lakh on housing loan is being extended for another year.
- 3 year old tax matters will not open. Tax cases older than 10 years will be opened in serious cases.
- Tax exemption for startups increased by an additional year. There will be time till 31 March 2022 to claim tax holiday for startups.
- In case of custom duty, 400 old discounts will be reviewed. Efforts will be made to implement the new custom duty structure from 1 October.
- Some parts of mobile phones will now have a custom duty of 2.5 per cent instead of zero. Duty on copper reduced to 2.5 percent. Duty on steel reduced to 7.5 percent. Now the steel screw will have 15 per cent duty instead of 10. Custom duty reduced on gold and silver. Custom duty on cotton increased by 10 percent. Select leather out of custom duty. Duty will increase on some auto ports.
Union Budget 2021 and schemes for Assam
- 34000 crore is announced for Highways in Assam.
- Another 1000 crore is announced for Tea workers of Assam and West Bengal.