Highlights of Union Budget 2016-17
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitlev presented his third Union Budget 2016-17 as Finance Minister in the Parliament on February 29, 2016. It was the second full year Budget of the NDA government under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Arun Jaiiley cited that the CPI inflation has come down to 5.4% from 9 plus, and it is huge relief for the public. Willi an eye on supporting the small lax-payer and the small investor, he announced a slew of schemes, and income tax exemptions. He also said about the 10 sectors of this year’s budget in the Parliament. They are
- Agriculture and farmers’ welfare
- Rural sector
- Social sector including healthcare
- Education sector
- Skills and job creation
- Infrastructure and Investment
- Financial sector reforms
- Governance and Ease of doing business
- Fiscal discipline
- Tax reforms
Agriculture and Fanners’ Welfare
- Total allocation for agriculture and farmer welfare is at Rs 35984 crore.
- 5 lakh heactares of land wil be brought under irrigation.
- 89 languishing irrigation projects covering 80.6 hectares fast tracked.
- 5 lakh acres to be brought under organic farming over a three year period.
- Soil health card scheme- to cover all 14 crore farm holdings.
- 60000 crore for recharging of ground water recharging as there is urgent need to focus on drought hit areas cluster development for water conservation.
- Unified Agricultural marketing e-platform-common platforms for wholesale markets.
- Rs 15000 crore fund for interest subvention to reduce burden of loan repayment on farmers.
- Dedicated Irrigation Fund in NABARD of Rs 20000 crore.
- Nominal premium and highest ever compensation in case of crop loss under the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana- allocation of Rs 5500 crore.
Rural Sector
- Total allocation 7 87700 crore.
- 7 2.87 lakh crore grant in aid to gram panchayats and municipalities. Quantum jump of 228% compared to the previous 5 year period.
- Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission-300 Rurban Clusters.
- 100% village electrification by May 1, 2018.
- Digital Literacy Mission scheme to cover 6 crore additional households.
- Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan- 7 655 crore.
- PMGSY- Rs 27000 crore allocation.
