Presenting the first Union Budget of the third decade of 21st century, Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, today unveiled a series of far-reaching reforms, aimed at energizing the Indian economy through a combination of short-term, medium-term, and long-term measures. Syllabus of UPSC GS paper 3 has economics in it. And students should be clear with the concepts of economics. It is also very essential for the students to keep a track of current affairs related to economics. To read more articles on Economics click here.

TOPICS

  • Key Highlights of Union Budget 2020-21

THE KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF UNION BUDGET 2020 - 21 

 

Three prominent themes of the Budget

  • Aspirational India - better standards of living with access to health, education and better jobs for all sections of the society
  • Economic Development for all - “Sabka Saath , Sabka Vikas , Sabka Vishwas”.
  • Caring Society - both humane and compassionate; Antyodaya as an article of faith.
  • Three broad themes are held together by:
    • Corruption free, policy-driven Good Governance.
    • Clean and sound financial sector.
  • Ease of Living underlined by the three themes of Union Budget 2020-21.

Three components of Aspirational India

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

Sixteen Action Points for Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development

  • Rs. 2.83 lakh crore to be allocated for the following 16 Action Points:
    • Rs. 1.60 lakh crore for Agriculture, Irrigation & allied activities.
    • Rs. 1.23 lakh crore for Rural development & Panchayati Raj.                          -
  • Agriculture credit:
    • Rs. 15 lakh crore target set for the year 2020-21.
    • PM-KISAN beneficiaries to be covered under the KCC scheme.
    • NABARD Re-finance Scheme to be further expanded.
  • Comprehensive measures for 100 water-stressed districts proposed.
  • Blue Economy:
    • Rs. 1 lakh crore fisheries’ exports to be achieved by 2024-25.
    • 200 lakh tonnes fish production targeted by 2022-23.
    • 3477 Sagar Mitras and 500 Fish Farmer Producer Organisations to involve youth in fisheries extension.
    • Growing of algae, sea-weed and cage culture to be promoted.
    • Framework for development, management and conservation of marine fishery resources.
  • Kisan Rail to be setup by Indian Railways through PPP:
    • To build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables (milk, meat, fish, etc.
    • Express and Freight trains to have refrigerated coaches.
  • Krishi Udaan to be launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation:
    • Both international and national routes to be covered.
    • North-East and tribal districts to realize Improved value of agri-products.
  • One-Product One-District for better marketing and export in the Horticulture sector.
  • Balanced use of all kinds of fertilizers - traditional organic and innovative fertilizers.
  • Measures for organic, natural, and integrated farming:
    • Jaivik Kheti Portal – online national organic products market to be strengthened.
    • Zero-Budget Natural Farming (mentioned in July 2019 Budget) to be included.

o Integrated Farming Systems in rain-fed areas to be expanded.

o Multi-tier cropping, bee-keeping, solar pumps, solar energy production in non-cropping season to be added.

  • PM-KUSUM to be expanded:
    • 20 lakh farmers to be provided for setting up stand-alone solar pumps.
    • Another 15 lakh farmers to be helped to solarise their grid-connected pump sets.
    • Scheme to enable farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow/barren lands and to sell it to the grid.
  • Village Storage Scheme:
    • To be run by the SHGs to provide farmers a good holding capacity and reduce their logistics cost.
    • Women, SHGs to regain their position as Dhaanya Lakshmi.
  • NABARD to map and geo-tag agri-warehouses, cold storages, reefer van facilities, etc.
  • Warehousing in line with Warehouse Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) norms:
    • Viability Gap Funding for setting up such efficient warehouses at the block/taluk level.
    • Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) to undertake such warehouse building.
  • Financing on Negotiable Warehousing Receipts (e-NWR) to be integrated with e-NAM.
  • State governments who undertake implementation of model laws (issued by the Central government) to be encouraged.
  • Livestock:
    • Doubling of milk processing capacity to 108 million MT from 53.5 million MT by 2025.
    • Artificial insemination to be increased to 70% from the present 30%.
    • MNREGS to be dovetailed to develop fodder farms.
    • Foot and Mouth Disease, Brucellosis in cattle and Peste Des Petits ruminants (PPR) in sheep and goat to be eliminated by 2025.
  • Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – 0.5 crore households mobilized with 58 lakh SHGs for poverty alleviation.

Wellness, Water and Sanitation

  • Rs. 69,000 crore allocated for overall Healthcare sector.
  • Rs. 6400 crore (out of Rs. 69,000 crore) for PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY):
    • More than 20,000 hospitals already empanelled under PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
    • Viability Gap Funding window proposed for setting up hospitals in the PPP mode.
    • Aspirational Districts with no Ayushman empanelled hospitals to be covered in the first phase.
    • Targeting diseases with an appropriately designed preventive regime using Machine Learning and AI.
  • Jan Aushadhi Kendra Scheme to offer 2000 medicines and 300 surgicals in all districts by 2024.
  • TB Harega Desh Jeetega campaign launched - commitment to end Tuberculosis by 2025.
  • Rs. 3.60 lakh crore approved for Jal Jeevan Mission:
    • Rs. 11,500 crore for the year 2020-21.
    • Augmenting local water sources, recharging existing sources, and promoting water harvesting and de-salination.
    • Cities with million-plus population to be encouraged to achieve the objective during the current year itself.
  • Rs.12, 300 crore allocation for Swachh Bharat Mission in 2020-21:
    • Committment to ODF-Plus in order to sustain ODF behaviour.
    • Emphasis on liquid and grey water management.

o Focus also on Solid-waste collection, source segregation, and processing.

Education and Skills

  • Rs. 99,300 crore for education sector and Rs. 3000 crore for skill development in 2020-21.
  • New Education Policy to be announced soon.
  • National Police University and National Forensic Science University proposed for policing science, forensic science, and cyber-forensics.
  • Degree level full-fledged online education program by Top-100 institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework.
  • Up to 1-year internship to fresh engineers to be provided by Urban Local Bodies.
  • Budget proposes to attach a medical college to an existing district hospital in PPP mode.
  • Special bridge courses to be designed by the Ministries of Health, and Skill Development:
    • To fulfill the demand for teachers, nurses, para-medical staff and care-givers abroad.
    • To bring in equivalence in the skill sets of the workforce and employers’ standards.
  • 150 higher educational institutions to start apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021.
  • External Commercial Borrowings and FDI to be enabled for education sector.
  • Ind-SAT proposed for Asian and African countries as a part of Study in India program.

Economic Development

Industry, Commerce and Investment

  • Rs. 27,300 crore allocated for 2020-21 for development and promotion of Industry and Commerce.
  • Investment Clearance Cell proposed to be set up:

o To provide “end to end” facilitation and support.

o To work through a portal.

  • Five new smart cities proposed to be developed.
  • Scheme to encourage manufacture of mobile phones, electronic equipment and semi-conductor packaging proposed.
  • National Technical Textiles Mission to be set up:

o With four-year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24.

o At an estimated outlay of Rs 1480 crore.

o To position India as a global leader in Technical Textiles.

  • New scheme NIRVIK to be launched to achieve higher export credit disbursement, which provides for:

o Higher insurance coverage

o Reduction in premium for small exporters

o Simplified procedure for claim settlements.

  • Turnover of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) proposed to be taken to Rs 3 lakh crore.
  • Scheme for Revision of duties and taxes on exported products to be launched.

o Exporters to be digitally refunded duties and taxes levied at the Central, State and local levels, which are otherwise not exempted or refunded.

  • All Ministries to issue quality standard orders as per PM’s vision of “Zero Defect-Zero Effect” manufacturing.

 

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