Chennai: Budget 2021 is an expression of the Aatmanirbhar vision, said Rattan Lal Kataria, Minister of State, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Social Justice and Empowerment.
With contraction in the economy, additional spending on welfare, widening fiscal deficit, there were twin challenges to pull back the economy to a ‘V’ shaped recovery and to secure the ‘livelihood of people’. However, the Finance Minister has come up with a brilliant budget that shall prove to be a ‘V’accine for our economy, he said.
“The introduction of agriculture infrastructure and development cess, increase in agriculture credit to the tune of Rs 16.5 lakh crores and allocation of infrastructure fund for augmenting infrastructure of APMCs echoes government’s intentions aimed at welfare of farmers,” he added.
As for infrastructure investment, Kataria said, the government has given a major push to infrastructure investment and placed its bets on multiplier effects of infrastructure spending to propel growth and employment.
Setting up of development financial institution with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore, expansion of National Infrastructure Pipeline and creation of National Monetisation pipeline will go a long way in augmenting resources for upcoming projects.
“Apart from completing the western and eastern dedicated freight corridor projects by 2022, the government has proposed new freight corridor projects. This shall enable seamless freight transport and bring down the logistics cost for our industry,” he added.
In Budget 2021, the government has announced a new scheme for augmentation of public bus transport services, through PPP mode, with an outlay of 18,000 crore.
Calling Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) as a social revolution, he said the outcome of this scheme is not just limited to providing tap water to people. It creates demand for skilled workforce like pipe fitters, plumbers, electricians, pump operator etc.
Lauding the initiatives in the health sector, Kataria stated that the FM announced a whopping increase of 137 per cent in the budgetary outlay.
A new scheme – PM AtmaNirbharSwasth Bharat Yojana with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over the next six years has been announced, he noted.