Union Budget 2021 – 22

The first budget of this new decade and also a first digital one in the backdrop of unprecedented COVID-19 crisis was presented by the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman,

She told that Budget proposals will further strengthen the Sankalp of Nation First, Doubling Farmer’s Income, Strong Infrastructure, Healthy India, Good Governance, Opportunities for youth, Education for All, Women Empowerment, and Inclusive Development among others

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

A new centrally sponsored scheme, PM Aatma Nirbhar  Swasth Bharat Yojana, will be launched with an outlay of about Rs 64, 180 crore over 6 years.

Voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles, Fitness tests in automated fitness centres (After 20 years in case of personal vehicles and After 15 years in case of commercial vehicles)

Provision of  Rs 35,000 crore made for Covid-19 vaccine for the year 2021 – 22, From 5 states to oveall country, the Made in India Pneumococcal Vaccine to be rolled out across the country

Ujjwala Scheme which has benefited 8 crore households will be extended to cover 1 crore more beneficiaries

A single Securities Markets Code to be evolved, Support for development of a world class Fin-Tech hub at the GIFT-IFSC

Government will undertake a new initiative – National Language Translation Mission (NTLM). This will enable the wealth of governance-and-policy related knowledge on the Internet being made available in major Indian languages

Legislation to be introduced to setup Higher Education Commission of India as an umbrella body with 4 separate vehicles for standard-setting, accreditation, regulation, and funding

15,000 schools to be strengthened by implementing all NEP components, for more details CLICK HERE

100 new Sainik Schools to be set up in partnership with NGOs/private schools/states

Agricultural credit target enhanced to Rs. 16.5 lakh crore in FY22 – animal husbandry, dairy, and fisheries to be the focus areas

SWAMITVA Scheme to be extended to all States/UTs,  1.80 lakh property-owners in 1,241 villages have already been provided cards

5 major fishing harbours – Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat to be developed as hubs of economic activity

Amendments to the DICGC Act, 1961, to help depositors get an easy and time-bound access to their deposits to the extent of the deposit insurance cover

Central University to come up in Leh for accessibility of higher education in Ladakh

‘Operation Green Scheme’ to be extended to 22 perishable products, to boost value addition in agriculture and allied products

750 Eklavya model residential schools in tribal areas to be opened

The Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan and launch the Mission Poshan 2.0 will be merged to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome

Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), will be launched for universal water supply in all 4,378 Urban Local Bodies with 2.86 crore household tap connections, as well as liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities

National Institution for One Health will be set up, 4 regional National Institutes for Virology will be opened across the country,

Setting up of the Dispute Resolution Committee, faceless ITAT, relaxation to NRIs, increase in exemption limit from audit and relief for dividend income

Critical care hospital blocks in 602 districts and 12 central institutions will be set up, Integrated Health Information Portal will be expanded to all States/UTs to connect all public health labs

Government has launched the One Nation One Ration Card scheme through which beneficiaries can claim their rations anywhere in the country. One Nation One Ration Card plan is under implementation by 32 states and UTs, reaching about 69 crore beneficiaries – that’s a total of 86% beneficiaries covered. The remaining 4 states and UTs will be integrated in the next few months.

Under the revamped Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for the welfare of Scheduled Castes, the Central Assistance was enhanced and allocated  Rs. 35,219 crore for 6 years till 2025-2026, to benefit 4 crore SC students.

For Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 Rs. 1,41,678 crore over 5 years announced

By March 2022, Government would be awarding another 8,500 kms and complete an additional 11,000 kms of national highway corridors

Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan for India – 2030. The Plan is to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030. Bringing down the logistic costs for our industry is at the core of our strategy to enable ‘Make in India’. It is expected that Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and Eastern DFC will be commissioned by June 2022.

Two new technologies i.e., ‘MetroLite’ and ‘MetroNeo’ will be deployed to provide metro rail systems at much lesser cost with same experience, convenience and safety in Tier-2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier-1 cities. 

The Central Government is proposed to launch a revamped reforms-based result-linked power distribution sector scheme with an outlay of Rs. 3,05,984 crore  over 5 years. 

Senior Citizens above 75 years of Age, Having Pension & Interest Income exempted from Filing Tax Return, for more details CLICK HERE

A scheme to promote flagging of merchant ships in India will be launched by providing subsidy support to Indian shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries and CPSEs. An amount of Rs. 1624 crore will be provided over 5 years.

Finance Minister proposed to take up decriminalisation of the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Act, 2008 on similar lines of the decriminalising of the procedural and technical compoundable offences under the Companies Act, 2013, which is now complete, for more details CLICK HERE

PLI launched to create manufacturing global champions across 13 sectors with amount committed nearly ₹1.97 lakh crore in next 5 years starting FY2021-22

MITRA Scheme to create world class infrastructure for global champions in textile sector leading to creation of 7 textile parks over 3 years

100% electrification of Broad Gauge Routes by 2023

Innovative PPP models to augment public bus transport

National Research Foundation with outlay of ₹50,000 crore over 5 years

NSSF loan to FCI for food subsidy to be replaced by making budget provisions

Increase in limit for tax audit for persons who carry out 95% of their transactions digitally

Additional deduction of ₹1.5 lakh shall be available for loans taken up till 31 March 2022 for purchase of affordable house