Union Budget 2020: Here’s why these places are significant.
Budget 2020 highlights: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2020 Saturday where she proposed five archaeological sites to be developed in Haryana, UP, Assam, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu with on-site museums. The archaeological sites will be developed at Rakhigarhi, Hastinapur, Shivsagar, Dholavira and Adichanallur. Along with this she also proposed a tribal museum in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
“I propose to provide Rs 2500 crores for promotion of tourism in the year 2020-21”, said FM Nirmala Sitharaman during the Budget session. She said Rs 3,150 crore has been allocated for the Ministry of Culture.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman: I propose to provide Rs 2500 crores for promotion of tourism in the year 2020-21 https://t.co/szz4E4BgcO
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2020
Sitharaman also proposed the setting up of an Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under the Ministry of Culture.
“Acquisition of knowledge in disciplines such as museology and archaeology are essential for collecting and analysing scientific evidence of such findings and for dissemination through high-quality museums,” she said. She also proposed the setting up of a tribal museum in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
Highlighting improved tourism revenues due to better rank, the Finance Minister said, “India had moved up from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (World Economic Forum).” Due to this, she said, “Foreign exchange earnings grew 7.4 per cent to Rs 1.88 lakh crores for the period January 2019 from Rs 1.75 lakh crores.”
A Numismatics and Trade Museum will also be located in the historic Old Mint Building in Kolkata. She also announced renovation and re-curation of four more museums across India.
While the fund for the Tourism Ministry was Rs 2,150 crore in the 2018-2019 Budget, it rose to Rs 2,189.22 crore in 2019-2020. The allocation for the Culture Ministry, which was Rs 2,843.32 crore in 2018-2019, increased to Rs 3,042.35 crore for 2019-2020.
(with PTI inputs)