The Union Minister, Piyush Goyal has presented the Budget 2019 in parliament today (1st February). This is the last Interim Budget of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi before the Lok Sabha elections in May. With elections just months away, the Cabinet has kept the budget focused on quick relief such as farm loan waiver, easing income tax rules, favourable loan terms for small businesses and direct cash transfers to farmers who are under debt.
Goyal said the government has made a historic plan called the PM Kisan programme. Under this programme, small farmers who have less than 2 hectares of land will get a support of Rs. 6,000. The amount will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of farmers in 3 installments of Rs. 2,000. He said, “12 crore farmer families will be benefitted from the programme and will be executed from December 2018. He added this will cost the government Rs. 75,000 crore per annum and the scheme will be 100 % funded by the government”.
In addition, Radhtriya Kamdhenu Aayog will also be set up for cows. 2 % interest subvention for animal husbandry, fisheries and farmers have been announced in the budget 2019.
Goyal said, "EPFO shows two crore accounts in 2 years and this show formalization of the economy. When there is such a high growth, jobs are created”. Gratuity limit has been hiked from the previous Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 30 lakh. Pension scheme for unorganised sector workers with monthly income up to Rs. 15000 will be provided. Additionally, they will get assured monthly pension of Rs. 3,000 after retirement.
The government has also announced Free Gas Connection for the Poor. On this Goyal said, "To ensure cleaner fuel and health assurance, we embarked on PM Ujjwala Yojana, a programme to give 8 crore free LPG connections to rural families, 6 crore connections have already been given.
And for the very first time, defence Budget has been increased to over Rs. 3 lakh crore, said the minister. He said, “Soldiers of India who protect our borders are the pride and honour of the nation. In our election manifesto we had promised one rank, one pension. We have resolved this and distributed over Rs. 35,000 crore in the last few years for our soldiers."
Goyal further told "The centre has proposed to raise allocation for the northeast areas to Rs 58,166 crore in 2019. It is a 21 percent increase over the previous year”.
He said, "Within the next 2 years, assessment of all tax returns shall be done electronically without any personal interface”. The direct tax collections up from 6.38 lakh crore in 2013-14 to almost 12 lakh crore and tax base up from 3.79 to 6.85 crore. Moreover, all income tax returns will be processed within 24 hours.
