Introduction:
The word budget is not mentioned nor defined in the Indian
Constitution. In fact, it is known as Annual Financial Statement (AFS) under
article 112 of the Indian Constitution. The budget should be presented by The
President of India, but on his/her behalf Finance Minister present the budget
in the lower house (Lok Sabha) of the Parliament.
The AFS goes through 6 stages like,
·
Presentation
of budget,
·
General
discussion in Lower House (Lok Sabha),
·
Scrutiny
by the departmental committees,
·
Voting
on demand and passing of cut motions (Token, Policy & Economy),
·
Passing
of appropriation bill (expenditure)
·
Finally,
the passing of finance bill (taxation).
The latest budget sets a bold vision for economic growth,
inclusivity, and innovation, focusing on Middle class, Youth, Annadata
(farmers), etc.
Some of the Key
Highlights of the budgets are as follows:
1] Boost to Agriculture & Rural Economy:
National Mission on High Yielding Seeds to develop seeds with
high yield, pest resistance & resilient towards climate change. Makhana
Board in Bihar for agricultural enhancement (Lots of Bihar centric initiatives
announced). Aatmanirbharta in Pulses with a 6-year mission on Tur, Urad, and
Masoor to meet ever-rising demand & increase the income of the annadata. Aatmanirbharta in Urea by setting up a plant
in Assam to reduce dependency on imports.
2] Empowering MSMEs & Startups:
Change in the definition of MSME & a MSME credit cards
with a ₹5 lakh limit for micro-enterprises because, government want to ease the
credit facilities to increase investment as they comprise 36% of manufacturing
& 45% of exports. Increased the Startup funds corpus by 20,000 crores from
earlier 10,000 crores. This is a Positive sign for the budding future
entrepreneurs & leaders like us. This shows government approach to promote
innovation, creativity and sustainability.
3] Investment in Human Capital:
Government will set up 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (under Atal
Innovation Mission) in government schools in next 5 years to provide students
the hand-on experience that helps them in critical thinking, innovation and
creativity. AI (Artificial Intelligence) Centre of Excellence in Education with
₹500 crore allocation as well as by offering free membership for the initial
participants. In addition, absorbing 6500 students in 5 IITs and create additional
10,000 seats in medical education with the goal of adding 75000 seats in next 5
years. The timeliest focus was given to provide Social Security relief for
platform workers (gig workers) under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)
and registration on e-Shram portal.
4] lnvestment in economy:
The nuclear energy mission to generate 100GW of nuclear
energy by 2047 from the current 6.8GW to reduce GHG's emissions, achieve
Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) promised at Paris
Agreement 2015 and revised at Glasgow summit (COP 26), Panchamrit targets and
eventually achieve net-neutrality by 2070. Budget announced ship building
clusters to reduce dependency on foreign shipping clients & develop aatmanirbharta
as well as a robust ecosystem for indigenous ship building (we had negative
experience amid Russia-Ukraine war).
5] Tax & Financial Reforms:
This was the most exciting part of the budget as we all
settled in seminar hall cheered for the extensive tax relief announced by our
finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to the citizens (especially to the middle
class). Our former & late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley once said
"Every taxpayer is the nation's builders" & to honour the honest
taxpayer our beloved Nirmala Tai announced that there will be no income tax
till 12 lakh and for salaried person till 12.75 lakh. She also announced the
introduction of the New Income Tax bill with a new tax rebate proposed in the
next week and it will replace the existing Income Tax Act, 1961. However, due
to this historic tax relief the Government of India will lose 1 lakh crores
& 2.5 lakh crores through the direct & Indirect tax respectively.
On the other hand, the Government also needs to emphasize
reducing the fiscal deficit (Total government expenditure & its total
revenue) by bringing down to 3% as per Fiscal Responsibility and Budget
Management Act, 2003(FRBM Act, 2003) which is currently 4.8% (F.Y 2024-25) of
GDP to make India a favourable destination for investors to invest and to boost
prosperity. In addition, to encourage R&D and innovation in the country,
the Government needs to increase investment. If we look at the figures, India
invests only $17.2 billion (0.67% of GDP), whereas China invests $496.5 billion
(3.2 % of their GDP). If we truly want to call ourselves the Vishwaguru, then
it's high time to invest in R&D.
Finally, from the defence budget (8% of the GDP) perspective,
India needs to at least provide $100 billion to counter the rising two front
war situation with China & Pakistan as well as for the modernization of
defence infrastructure through R&D, indigenous manufacturing & sign new
defence deals to achieve true Aatmanirbharta. "Because nobody respects your
soft power unless & until you have hard power".
Conclusion:
In a nutshell, budget 2025-26 is all about driving economic
transformation, empowering people and fostering innovation. The roadmap to become
Viksit Bharat by 2047 can be achieved through the holistic emphasize on every
aspect of society by promoting inclusive growth and sustainable development for
generation to come.
Prafull Dhanaji Shinde
Batch: IGSB 2024-26
Mail id: prafull.shinde@indiraigsb.edu.in
Mobile No.: 7522908903
LinkedIn id: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prafullshinde18
No comments:
Post a Comment