The Union Budget 2020-21 is passed during the tenure of Finance Minister namely, Smt. Nirmala Sitaraman. This budget is passed to develop the Indian economy by individually or in combination of measures including short- term, medium term and long term.

The theme of this budget of 21st century is Ease of Living.

According to Mrs. Nirmala Sitaraman this budget aims at:

• Digital Governance, as it is used for delivery of services.
• National infrastructure Pipeline for improving physical quality of life.
• Disaster Resilience for the purpose of Risk Mitigation
• Pension and Insurance penetration for the purpose of Social security

Union Budget 2020-21 is based on three main themes:

Aspirational India:

This part of Union Budget helps in development of society for providing better standards of living, better provisions of education, health and to provide jobs.

• Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development
• Wellness, Water and Sanitation
• Education and Skills

Economic Development:

This is exhortation of SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas, SabkaVishwas.

Caring Society:

It is for the purpose of both humane and compassionate which depends entirely on faith.

There are some broad themes of third decade budget of 21st century as:

• Corruption free policy for good governance
• Clean and sound financial sector

Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development

Mrs. Nirmala Sitaraman said that activities like Agriculture, Rural Development, Irrigation and some activities for farmers and some rural poor people needs more sources they already have. So, Rs 2.83 lakh crore would be spent the same. As, the main focus of Government is farmers and poor people. Government is looking forward to double the income of farmers by 2022.

Our Finance Minister said that Government has provided resources as a particular amount to farmers already of 6.11 Crore under a scheme named, PM Fasal Bima Yojana. A target has been set by the Government for Agricultural credit for year 2020-21 at Rs. 15 lakh crore.

There is a scheme named KCC under which all beneficiaries, who are eligible for PM-KISAN Yojana are covered. Besides this comprehensive measures are to be taken for 100 districts having water related problems, a proposal to expand another scheme PM-KUSUM to provide 20 lakh farmers for setting up stand-alone solar pumps. 15 lakh farmers are for make their grid connected pump sets, to set up for warehouses that are efficient at the block as well as taluka level. In Horticulture sector, some steps were taken in particular direction and it was focused on “one product one district” for the purpose of marketing and export.

Government is thinking of eliminating foot and mouth disease, brucellosis in cattle and PPR (peste des petits ruminants) in sheeps and goat by 2025. Artificial insemination to be increased 30 percent to 70 percent. Government is thinking to develop fodder farms through MNREGS and to double the milk processing capacity from 53.5 million MT to 108 million MT by year 2025. And, in case of Blue Economy, fish production should be raised to 20 lakh tonnes by year 2022-23.

According to Government Youth should get involve in activities like fishery extension by the help of 3477 Sagar Mitras and 500 Fish Farmer Producer Organisations. Government is hoping that by year 2024-25 Fishery exports will raise to One lakh crore. Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana will be used for the purpose of alleviation of poverty, 50 lakhs households are mobilized with 58 lakh SHGs and Government will try to expand the same.

Wellness, Water and Sanitation

Our Finance Minister said Rs 69,000 crore should be provided for the purpose of Health Care under the scheme of Wellness, Water and Sanitation which also includes Rs. 6400 crores for PMJAY (Prime Minister Jan Arogya Yojana). Smt Sitharaman said that there are more than 20,000 empanelled hospitals especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities for poor people under PMJAY, putting in place hospitals within the PPP mode mainly in Aspirational Districts, using machine learning and AI, within the Ayushman Bharat scheme, TB Harega Desh Jeetega campaign to finish Tuberculosis by 2025, expansion of Jan Aushadhi Kendra Scheme to all or any districts offering 2000 medicines and 300 surgical by 2024 are a number of the opposite wellness measures within the Budget.

On sanitation front, Government is committed to ODF Plus so as to sustain ODF behaviour and also the total allocation for Swachh Bharat Mission is Rs.12,300 crore in 2020-21. Similarly, Rs 3.60 lakh crore approved for Jal Jeevan Mission and Rs 11,500 crore in 2020-21.

Education and Skills

On Education and Skill front, the minister of finance said Rs 99,300 crore is being allocated in 2020-21 and Rs 3000 crores for skill development. New Education Policy are going to be announced soon. About 150 higher educational institutions will start apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021. Degree level full-fledged online education programme to be started. Under its Study in India programme, an Ind-SAT is proposed to be held in Asian and African countries.

A National Police University and a National Forensic Science University are being proposed within the domain of policing science, forensic science, cyber-forensics etc. it's proposed that special bridge courses be designed by the Ministries of Health, Skill Development.

Economic Development

Industry, Commerce and Investment Referring to the theme of Economic Development, the minister of finance said that Rs 27300 crore would be allocated for development and promotion of Industry and Commerce for the year 2020-21. An Investment Clearance Cell are going to be founded to supply end to end facilitation. it's proposed to develop five new smart cities unitedly with States in PPP mode.

A scheme to encourage manufacture of mobile phones, equipment and semi-conductor packaging is additionally proposed. A National Technical Textiles Mission would be founded with a four-year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24 at an estimated outlay of Rs 1480 crore to position India as a worldwide leader in Technical Textiles. to attain higher credit disbursement, a brand new scheme, NIRVIK is being launched to support mainly small exporters. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is moving ahead for creating a Unified Procurement System within the country for providing one platform for procurement of products, services and works. it's proposed to require the turnover of GeM to Rs 3 lakh crores. 3.24 lakh vendors are already on this platform.

Infrastructure

On Infrastructure sector as highlighted by the Prime Minister that Rs 100 lakh crore would be invested over the following 5 years, National Infrastructure Pipeline was launched on 31st December 2019 of Rs 103 lakh crore. It consists of over 6500 projects across sectors and are classified as per their size and stage of development. She said that about Rs 22,000 crore has already been provided as support to Infrastructure Pipeline.

Accelerated development of highways are undertaken. this may include development of 2500 Km access control highways, 9000 Km of economic corridors, 2000 Km of coastal and land port roads and 2000 Km of strategic highways. Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and two other packages to be completed by 2023. Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway even be started. it's proposed to monetise a minimum of 12 plenty of highway bundles of over 6000 Km before 2024.

Indian Railways aims to realize electrification of 27000 Km of tracks. She said that within 100 days of assumption of this government, it's commissioned 550 wi-fi facilities in as many stations. Four station re-development projects and operation of 150 passenger trains would be done through PPP mode. the method of inviting private participation is underway. More Tejas type trains will connect iconic tourist destinations. High speed train between Mumbai to Ahmedabad would be actively pursued. Similarly, 100 more airports would be developed by 2024 to support Udaan scheme.

Air fleet number expected to travel up from this 600 to 1200 during now. Allocation of Rs 1.70 lakh crore proposed for transport Infrastructure in 2020-21. Similarly, allocation of Rs 22,000 crore proposed for power and renewable energy sector in 2020-21. Expansion of the national gas grid from this 16,200 km to 27,000 km proposed.

New Economy On New Economy, Smt Sitharaman said that a policy to enable private sector to make Data Centre parks throughout the country are brought out soon. Fibre to the house (FTTH) connections through Bharatnet will link 100,000 gram panchayats this year. it's proposed to supply Rs 6000 crore to Bharatnet programme in 2020-21.

Measures proposed to profit the Start-ups include a digital platform for seamless application and capture of IPRs, Knowledge Translation Clusters to be founded across different technology sectors including new and emerging areas.

For designing, fabrication and validation of proof of concept, and further scaling up Technology Clusters, harbouring test beds and little scale manufacturing facilities to be established. it's proposed to supply an outlay of Rs 8000 crore over a period five years for the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications.

Caring society:

Women and Child, financial aid Harping on the theme of Caring Society, the minister said that Rs 35,600 crore proposed for nutrition-related programmes for the yr 2020-21. Rs 28,600 crore proposed for programs that are specific to women. Moreover, Rs 85000 crore would be allocated towards the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Other Backward classes for 2020-21. Similarly, for furthering development and welfare of Scheduled tribes, Rs 53,700 crore is proposed for 2020-21. She said, the govt is mindful of the concerns of senior citizens and Divyang. Accordingly, an enhanced allocation of Rs 9,500 crore is being provided for 2020-21.

Culture and Tourism
On Culture and Tourism, establishment of an Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under Ministry of Culture proposed with the status of a deemed University. 5 archaeological sites to be developed as iconic sites with on-site Museums - Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh) Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu). Re-curation of the Indian Museum in Kolkata, announced by Prime Minister in January 2020.

Museum on Numismatics and Trade to be located within the historic Old Mint building Kolkata. 4 more museums from across the country to be haunted for renovation and re-curation. Support for putting in of a Tribal Museum in Ranchi (Jharkhand). Maritime museum to be founded at Lothal- the Harrapan age maritime site near Ahmedabad, by Ministry of Shipping.

Environment and temperature change On Environment, States that are formulating and implementing plans for ensuring cleaner air in cities above a million to be encouraged. Parameters for the incentives to be notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and temperature change and also the allocation for this purpose is Rs 4,400 crore for 2020-21.

Governance

Dwelling on the problem of Governance as clean, corruption-free, policy driven and good in intent and most significantly trusting in faith, the minister announced putting in of a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) as an independent, professional, specialist organisation for conduct of a computer-based online Common Eligibility Test for recruitment to Non-Gazetted posts. A test-centre in every district, particularly within the Aspirational Districts would even be founded. it's also proposed to evolve a strong mechanism for appointment including direct recruitment to varied Tribunals and specialised bodies to draw in best talents and professional experts. Deliberation to strengthen the Contract Act is additionally on.

Financial Sector

The minister said that within the previous few years, Government of India has infused about Rs 3,50,000 crore by way of capital into Public Sector Banks for regulatory and growth purposes. Governance reforms would be administered in these banks, so they become more competitive. Government has already approved consolidation of 10 banks into four. Further, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) has been permitted to extend Deposit amount of money for a depositor, which is now Rs one lakh to Rs five lakh per depositor.

The limit for NBFCs to be eligible for debt recovery under the Securitization and Reconstruction of monetary Assets and Enforcement of interest (SARFAESI) Act 2002 is proposed to be reduced from Rs. 500 crore to asset size of Rs 100 crore or loan size from existing Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh. to fulfill the necessity for greater private capital, it's proposed to sell the balance holding of presidency of India IDBI Bank to personal, retail and institutional investors through the stock market. to assist easy mobility while in jobs, we wish to infuse into the Universal Pension coverage with auto enrolment. quite five lakh MSMEs have benefitted from restructuring of debt permitted by RBI within the last year.

The restructuring window was to finish on March 31, 2020. Government has asked RBI to think about extending this window till March 31, 2021. For selected sectors like pharmaceuticals, auto components et al, it's proposed to increase handholding support – for technology upgradations, R&D, business strategy etc. A scheme of Rs 1000 crore are anchored by EXIM Bank along with SIDBI.

Financial Markets

On Financial Markets, about deepening of the bond market, certain specified categories of presidency securities would be opened fully for non-resident investors, except for being available to domestic investors furthermore. Government also proposes to expand by floating a replacement Debt-ETF consisting primarily of presidency securities. this can give retail investors access to government securities the maximum amount as giving a beautiful investment for pension funds and long-term investors. to deal with the liquidity constraints of the NBFCs/HFCs, post the Union budget 2019-20, the govt. formulated a Partial Credit Guarantee scheme for the NBFCs. the govt. and RBI has taken various measures to allow Rupee derivatives to be traded within the International Financial Services Centre at GIFT city, Gujarat.

Disinvestment : On Disinvestment, the minister of finance said that listing of companies on stock exchanges discipline a corporation and provides access to financial markets and unlocks its value. It also gives opportunity for retail investors to participate within the wealth so created. the govt. now proposes to sell a component of its holding in LIC by way of Initial Public Offer (IPO).

Fiscal Management:

On Fiscal Management, the minister of finance said that XV Finance Commission has given its first report per yr 2020-21. within the spirit of co-operative federalism, Government in substantial measure, accepted the recommendations of the Commission. The commission would submit its final report back to the President during the latter a part of the year, for five years beginning 2021-22. She also announced to transfer to the GST Compensation Fund balances due out of collection of the years 2016-17 and 2017-18, in two instalments. Hereinafter, transfers to the fund would be limited only to collection by way of GST compensation cess.

The Revised Estimates of Expenditure for the yr 2019-20 are at tier of Rs 26.99 lakh Crore and also the receipts are estimated at Rs.19.32 lakh crore. She said, Government has estimated nominal growth of GDP for year 2020-21, on the premise of trends available, at 10%. Accordingly, receipts for the year 2020-21 are estimated at Rs. 22.46 lakh cr and, keeping in mind commitment of the govt. towards various schemes and wish for improvement in quality of life, level of expenditure has been kept at Rs 30.42 lakh cr. a decent a part of the borrowings for the yr 2020-21 would go towards cost of the govt. that has been scaled up by quite 21%. She said that the measures would spur growth impulses within the economy.

Award Winning Article is Written By: Ms.Shraddha Sharma

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