New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the interim budget will lend fresh impetus to the efforts to build a new India as it meets the aspirations of all sections of the society as well as the government’s goals. The budget will empower the poor, strengthen the farmers and give fresh impetus to the economy, Modi said. The budget will give new impetus to the efforts to build new India for 130 crore people, he added.
He said the budget proposals will directly benefit 12 crore farmers, 3 crore middle-class people and 30-40 crore unorganised workers. Talking about the proposals, the Prime Minister said there was a long-pending demand for raising the Income Tax exemption limit for salaried class to Rs 5 lakh.
Our government has met that demand, he said, adding it reflected his government’s commitment towards the salaried middle class which contributes to the nation building by paying taxes. Speaking about the agriculture sector, the Prime Minister referred to the announcement in the budget for a new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi.
Under the scheme, each marginal farmer will get Rs 6,000 annually, in three instalments with effect from December 1, 2018. The scheme, for which an annual outlay of Rs 75,000 crore was made, will benefit 12 crore marginal farmers, he said.
For farmers, different governments have brought different schemes but not more than 2-3 crore farmers have benefited from those. But now, the PM Kisan Yojana (announced today) will benefit 12 crore small farmers who have less than 5 acres of land, Modi said.
In a way, this is the biggest scheme for the farmers since Independence, he said. He said the government was also making efforts to help the farming community through other programmes like welfare of animals and fisheries.
Our effort is to empower the farmers by which he can double his income, the Prime Minister said, expressing confidence that todayâ?Ts announcements would help in that endeavour. He also spoke about the unorganised sector for which the budget provided for a pension scheme applicable to those between the age of 18 years and 40 years.
Under the scheme, a person belonging to unorganised sector can deposit Rs 55 per month and the government will match the same amount. At the age of 60, the beneficiary will get Rs 3000 per month as assured income.
There are 40-42 crore people in the unorganised sector but they have never been cared for. On the occasion, the Prime Minister also spoke about the various schemes launched over the last four and a half years like Swacch Bharat, Ujjwala, PM Awas Yojana and Ayushman Bharat, saying these were benefitting the people in a significant manner.