Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the first Budget of his second term is for a “New India”, and termed it “citizen-friendly, development-friendly and future-oriented.”
Mr. Modi was speaking after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden Budget presentation.
The Budget was “green” in its emphasis on clean energy (tax relief on electronic vehicles and renewable energy) as well as one that would make the people prosperous and able, he noted.
“I want to congratulate Nirmala Sitharaman for the citizen-friendly, development-friendly and future-oriented Budget. It will make the nation samrudh (prosperous) and make the people samarth (able),” he said.
“With this Budget, the poor will be strengthened and youth will get a better tomorrow. The middle class will progress with this Budget and development work will expedite even more. The tax structure will be simplified and infrastructure will modernise. In the last five years, the country has left behind the atmosphere of depression. It has come out of that atmosphere. Today, it is filled with confidence... Today, in people's lives, there are new desires and many expectations. This Budget is giving an assurance to the nation, that these [desires and expectations] can be fulfilled. This is a Budget of hope and expectations,” he stated.
The Budget would boost the country’s development in the 21st century. It had a road map to transform the agriculture sector. It would help in fulfilling the commitments made for the 75th Independence Day in 2022. It had outlined new initiatives for structural reforms in the agriculture sector by investing in rural infrastructure and opportunities for jobs in villages, he stressed.
“In the last five years, our government took various steps to empower farmers, poor people, Dalits and others. In the next five years, this empowerment will now make them the country's powerhouse. The country will get the energy of becoming the $5 trillion economy through this powerhouse,” he obderved.