Union Budget of 2021-22

Union Budget 2021- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 presented the Union Budget 2021 and revised the expenditure target for FY 2021 at Rs 34.50 lakh crore. She allocated Rs Rs 2,23,846 crore for health, Rs 1.18 lakh crore for road infra, Rs 1,10,055 crore for Railways, Outlay over Rs 3 lakh crore for power and set the divestment target for FY22 at Rs 1.75 lakh crore, among other things.

1 February, 2021, witnessed the announcement of the Union Budget for FY 2021-22. The focus in this year's Budget is to 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.

The Union Budget website contains the Highlights of the FY 2021-22 Budget. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) website also contains a summary of the Budget. The Budget proposals for 2021-22 rest on 6 pillars.

• Health and Wellbeing

• Physical & Financial Capital, and Infrastructure

• Inclusive Development for Aspirational India

• Reinvigorating Human Capital

• Innovation and R&D

• Minimum Government and Maximum Governance

GDP has seen a V-shaped recovery. With balanced focus and allocation in multiple sectors, Indian economy is poised to leapfrog on the growth path.

Government Reforms

• Increase in borrowing limits of States

• Privatisation of Public Sector Enterprise

Agriculture and Allied Sectors

• Emergency working capital & Concessional Credit Boost for farmers

• Agriculture marketing reforms

• Extending SWAMITVA Scheme to all States/UTs

• 1000 more Mandis to be integrated with e-NAM

MSMEs & Industry

• Collateral free loans for businesses

• PM Garib Kalyan Yojana

• Change in definition of MSMEs

Migrant Workers

• One Nation One Card

• Free food grain supply to migrants

• Social Security benefits will be extended to gig and platform workers

Energy

• Liquidity support for discoms

• Commercial coal mining

Social Sector

• National Digital Health Blueprint

• Technology driven education: PM eVidya, National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission

Health

• 137% rise in allocation

• INR 35000 crore for Covid-19 vaccine

Research & Development

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

• National Language Translation Mission to boost Internet access

• Deep Ocean Mission for ocean exploration and biodiversity conservation

Infrastructure

• National Rail Plan aims at 100% electrification of Broad Gauges by 2023 & developing adequate rail infrastructure by 2030 to cater to projected traffic needs up to 2050

• Increase modal share of rail in freight from 27% to 45%

Urban Development

• MetroLite and MetroNeo for tier 2 and peripherals of tier 1 cities

• Voluntary Vehicle Scrapping policy

• INR 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres to tackle air pollution

 BUDGET DOCUMENTS

Several key documents such as those listed below are tabled in the parliament during the Budget presentation process.

To offer a narrative in a user-friendly format, explanatory statements such as those listed below are also presented for quick or contextual references.

• Annual Finance Statement (AFS)

• Demand for Grants (DG)

• Finance Bill

• Expenditure Budget

• Receipt Budget

• Expenditure Profile

• Budget at a Glance

• Memorandum Explaining the provisions in the Finance Bill

• Output Outcome Monitoring Framework

Some Unkown and intersting facts about india's union budget

1) So far Morarji Desai has presented 10 Union Budgets in Parliament which is the highest by a single finance minister followed by P Chidambaram with nine budgets

2) The word budget is derived from 'bougette' which means small bag in French.

3) Until 1955, the Union Budget was presented in English. After that year, the Congress-led government decided to print the Budget papers in both Hindi and English.
 
4) The first independent budget of India was presented by RK Shanmukhan Chetty on November 26, 1947.
 
5) Railway and union budget was presented separately till 2017 after which they merged into a single presentation.
 
6) In 2019, Sitharaman ditched the traditional Budget briefcase, instead, she carried a Red packet with the National Emblem wrapped with a ribbon.

7) Indira Gandhi was the first woman finance minister to present the Budget in 1970, followed by Nirmala Sitharaman in 2019.

8) First Indian budget presented James Wilson, Scottish economist & politician. He established weekly magazine "The Economist". 

9) In 1973-74, former finance minister Yashwantrao Chavan presented the budget with a fiscal deficit of about ₹550 crore, the maximum until that time. It was then termed as ‘Black Budget’. It followed the India-Pakistan war in 1971 and failed monsoon season.

10) The 1991 budget by Manmohan Singh is known as the Epochal (or historically significant) budget as it marked the beginning of economic liberalisation in India. PV Narasimha Rao was then the prime minister of India.