The Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, has announced the budget for 2018-19 today. Starting off with providing the details on how the previous year’s budget turned out, he mentioned how India stands out as the fastest economy in the world and now is a 2.5 trillion-dollar economy. On the basis of purchasing power, India stands as the 3rd largest economy.
In the budget, the finance minister provided details covering sector like- cryptocurrencies, agriculture and rural sector, fishery and husbandry sector, health, education, economic and social sector, tourism sector and many more. He introduced impressive proposals for the financial plan, that will be affecting Indian middle-class families in various ways, that we’ll be talking below.
With the budget aiming at strengthening agriculture, rural development, health, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure, the following goals are set for the citizens of country this year:
“World’s Largest” Health Protection Plan
- Talking about the Health sector, the budget proposed for providing free medical services for specific procedures. Also, the establishment of 24 new medical colleges across the country will ensure better treatment of people along with increased chance of education for the young citizens.
- 50 crore beneficiaries will get Rs. 5 lakh insurance cover per family per year. It will be the world’s largest state-funded healthcare programme.
Exemption on Bank Deposits
- For senior citizens, exemption of interest income on bank deposits has been raised to Rs. 50,000. Standard deduction of Rs. 40,000 for salaried employees in lieu of transport and medical expenses.
Education Programme for Children
- For better education of children all around India, advanced B.Ed. program to be introduced to teachers to enhance their skills.
- The estimated expenditure on health, education, social protection in 2018-19 is Rs 1.38 lakh crore.
LPG Connections
- Arun Jaitley today raised the beneficiaries under PRADHAN MANTRI SAUBHGYA YOJNA to 8 crore, to get LPG connection which was earlier 5 crore.
- “We launched the scheme to make poor women free from the smoke of wood. Initially our target was to provide free LPG connections to about 5 crore poor women” said Jaitley.
Income Tax
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- No changes have been made on the income tax of the middle class.
#Budget2018 @arunjaitley No changes in Tax rates of salaried class
— pixr8 (@pixr8) February 1, 2018
Women Employment and Empowerment
- Under the Ayushman Bharat Programme, the budget proposes to create lakhs of jobs mainly for women in the employment sector.
- To ensure more take-home salary for women, the EPF for women employees has been reduced to 8%
Electricity in every home
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- In context to electricity, the budget established the point to provide electricity to 4 crore poor households under PMJJBY AND PMSBY.
Houses for Poor Families
- 51 Lakh houses to be constructed for the poor families in 2018-2019 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
- The government’s aim is that by 2022, every poor person should have a home. The government will also establish a dedicated affordable housing fund.
Minimum Support Price for farmers
- The budget recognizes food processing as one important tool for rural upliftment.
- Farmers are assured a Minimum Support Price (MSP) 1.5 times the cost of production.
Setting up WiFi Hotspots
- One of structural reforms in the Modi Government’s budget this year includes providing benefits to the people of India by enhancing and improving digital technology with the help of faster data networks. In a bid to make internet access more reachable even in the sub-urban, government will be setting up 5 lakh WiFi hostspots.
All in all, this year’s budget has come out to be really well considering the aim of the government to decrease digital divide, support Digital India and improving the quality of life. The budget also suggested a hike in the monthly salaries of the president, the vice president and the governor which according to recent rising economy is needful.