Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday termed the fourth Budget presented by his government as an important step towards the overall development of the nation with focus on fulfilling the “dreams” of every section, including the poor, the farmers and the under-privileged.
The Budget, he said, was “associated with our aspirations, our dreams and in a way depicts our future. This is the future of our new generation, the future of our farmers.”
“In FUTURE, the letter ‘F’ stands for the farmer, ‘U’ stands for underprivileged which includes Dalit, oppressed, women etc., ‘T’ stands for transparency, technology upgradation — the dream of a modern India, ‘U’ stands for urban rejuvenation-urban development, ‘R’ stands for rural development and ‘E’ stands for employment for youth, entrepreneurship, enhancement to give a push to new employment and boost to young entrepreneurs,” the Prime Minister said.
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“The focus of the budget is on agriculture, rural development and infrastructure which is also a reflection of the government’s commitment to raise investment and create employment opportunities,” he added.
“The government’s aim is to double farmers’ income by 2022 and the policies and schemes have been designed keeping this in mind,” he said, while emphasising that “Maximum emphasis in this Budget has been on farmers, villages, the poor, the Dalits and the underprivileged sections of society.”
The Budget laid emphasis on increasing employment opportunities, he said, pointing out that special allocation had been made for sectors like electronic manufacturing and textiles which create new job opportunities.
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Allocation for skill development had been enhanced considerably, keeping in mind the youth and the need to leverage the demographic dividend, he emphasised.
Noting that the housing and construction sector played a major role in the growth of the economy and in creating new employment opportunities, Mr. Modi said this Budget would provide an impetus to the housing sector in rural as well as urban areas.
“The comprehensive package on digital economy will curb tax evasion and check the circulation of black money,” he said, while noting that the government had undertaken the exercise to launch digital economy in a mission mode which will go a long way in achieving the target of 2,500 crore digital transactions in 2017-18.
Referring to the tax reforms and amendments, Mr. Modi said these would provide relief to the middle class, resulting in setting up of industries and creating job opportunities.