Budget 2021-2022: Highlights
Source: IT News / Raju Vernekar

Imphal, February 01 2021: Expenditure- Rs.34.83 lakh crore
Deficit
The fiscal deficit is set to jump to 9.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
Items to be costlier
Electronics item, Mobile, Charger, Leather shoes, Kabuli chana, Pulses, Urea, Auto parts, Gems.
Items to be cheaper
Iron, steel, nylon clothes, copper items, insurance, electicity, steel utensils, Dry cleaning, Agricultural equipment
Health care
A total spend of Rs 2 lakh crore on healthcare (Rs 35,000 crore on Covid-19 vaccine development and inoculation)
Income Tax
No change in personal income tax slabs, An exemption from filing income tax returns to senior citizens above 75 years of age who have only pension and interest income, The scrapping of income tax for senior citizens under certain conditions, Reduction in time-limit for re-opening of assessment to 3 years from existing 6 years( In serious tax evasion cases, with evidence of concealment of income of Rs.50 lakh or more in a year, the assessment can be re-opened up to 10 years) .

An extension in their tax holiday for an additional year to Startups, New rules for removal of double taxation for NRIs, a reduction in the time period of tax assessments, To ease filing of returns, details of capital gains from listed securities, dividend income, and interest from banks, post offices, etc, the returns to be pre-filled.

.The number of income tax return filers increased to 6.48 crore in 2020 from 3.31 crore in 2014 .

Provident fund
The interest earned by the Provident Fund contributions above Rs 2.5 lakh a year will now be taxed at the normal rates
Custom duty
A hike in custom duty on cotton and raw silk.
Cess (Petrol, diesel)
A new cess on agriculture development – Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 per litre on diesel
Automobile
A new vehicle scrapping policy to provide the auto sector a boost
Power
An additional 1 crore families to benefit under the Centre's Ujjwala scheme.
Road Transport
A significant spending on highway road expansion, in poll-bound states – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal.
Disinvestment
Two public sector banks other than IDBI Bank and one general insurance company to be privatised, the disinvestment target for the current fiscal Rs 2.10 lakh crore( the revenue collected through disinvestment-Rs 19,499 crore).

The privatisation of BPCL, Air India, Shipping Corporation of India, Container Corporation of India, IDBI Bank, BEML, Pawan Hans, Neelachal Ispat Nigam limited and other PSUs to be completed in 2021-22 .

LIC
LIC IPO to be brought in 2021-22 after legislative amendment.
Central Public Sector Enterprises
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) and an Asset Monetisation Pipeline to be launched to monetise lands owned by CPSEs.
Education
An allocation for education slashed by 6.13% (Rs 99,312 crore in 2020-2021).Now -a total expenditure estimate for education in 2021-2022-Rs 93,224 crore (Rs 54,874 crore for Department of School Education and Literacy and Rs 38,350 crore for the Department of Higher Education) .

100 new Sainik schools across India to be set up in partnership with NGOs and Private schools, a central university in Leh, The legislation to implement a Higher Education Commission to be introduced in the coming year.

It will be an umbrella body with four verticals to oversee standard-setting, accreditation, regulation, and funding.

15,000 schools across the country to be strengthened quality wise and to serve as exemplar schools in that region.

These schools to take lead in helping other schools to achieve the goals of the National Education Policy.

National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) to be developed to set standards for school teachers.

This will impact around 92 lakh teachers currently in the public and private schools in the country.

Formal umbrella structures to be set up to bring research institutions, colleges and universities in nine cities.

A 'Glue Grant' to be set up for this purpose.

750 Eklavya Model Residential Schools to be set up in Tribal areas.

The cost of each school will be increased to Rs 38 crore and for those schools in hilly and difficult areas, the unit cost to set it up will be Rs 48 crore.

Central Assistance for Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for students from Scheduled Castes will be Rs 35,219 crores for six years (till 2025-26) .

Rs 3000 crore allocated for apprenticeship initiatives and opportunities for graduates and diploma holders in Engineering.

A National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) to be set up to support teaching and learning activities.

The digital architecture set up under this will also help in educational planning, governance and administrative activities of the Centre and the States/ Union Territories.

Union Government will work on standardising Indian sign language across the country and develop curriculum to be used in this language.

CBSE Board Exams reforms to be introduced in a phased manner from 2022-23.Students to be tested on conceptual clarity, analytical skills and application of knowledge to real-life situations.

Partnerships with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to benchmark the skill levels of workforce and with Japan for skill transfer.

The launch of new schemes including Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, Mission Poshan 3.0, Voluntary Vehicle Scrapping Policy to the allocations for health and wellbeing, agriculture, infrastructure and other sectors, the Budget highlights Government's ambition to make India a USD 5 trillion economy.

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