New Delhi: Today, on 1st February 2022, at 11:00 am Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in the Parliament. This is Modi Government’s tenth while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fourth budget. FM Sitharaman said that among all the large economies, India’s economic growth in the financial year 2022 have been the highest at 9.2 per cent. She also said that in 14 sectors, sixty lakh new jobs will be created under the productivity linked incentive scheme.
Highlights of the Union Budget 2022:
Agriculture
- MSP to the tune of Rs 2.37 lakh crore will be directly paid to the farmers
- NABARD will facilitate funds with blended capital for startups in agriculture and rural enterprise
- Natural and organic farming will be promoted to push for chemical-free farming
- Drones will be put to use for spraying pesticides and crop assessment
- Rs 44,000 crore approved for Ken-Betwa river linking, which will benefit around 9 lakh hectare of farmland
Infrastructure
- National Highways will be expanded by 25,000 kilometers in 2022-23
- Rs 20,000 crore will be allotted to the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan
- In the next three years, 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains will be brought in
- 100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals will be developed in the next three years
- For the faster movement of people and goods, PM Gati Shakti Master Plan for Expressways will be formulated in 2022-23
- Under the Parvat Mala Project, 60 kilometers of ropeway will be developed
- 80 lakh houses will be built under the PM Awas Yojana, for which Rs 48,000 crores have been allotted
Economy and Finance
- In case of irregularity in tax filing, taxpayers can file an updated return within 2 years from the end of relevant assessment year
- Green bonds will be issued to support green infrastructure (climate related or environmental) projects
- Alternate Minimum Tax for Cooperative Societies brought down to 15 per cent, from earlier 18.5 per cent
- Cooperative Societies with income Rs 1 crore to 10 crores, will pay reduced surcharge of 7 per cent rather than 12 per cent
Digital Economy
- RBI, in 2022-23, will introduce Digital Rupee using the block chain technology
- Virtual Digital Assets will be taxed at 30 per cent
- Scheduled commercial banks will set up 75 Digital Banking Units across 75 districts
Education
- One Class One TV Channel of the “PM eVidya Scheme” will be expanded from the current 12 channels to 200 channels, to provide supplementary education in all the regional languages
- Digital University will be setup to provide world class education
- Five centers of excellence for Urban Planning will be setup, with an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore each
Health
- National Tele Mental Health Program will be setup with a focus on mental health of the citizens
- 23 National Tele Mental Health Centers will be setup, with NIMHANS as the nodal center
- National Digital Health Ecosystem will be launched to accommodate digital registries of health facilities and health providers
- Rs 60,000 crore has been allotted to cover 3.8 crore households under the ‘Har Ghar, Nal se Jal’ scheme for clean water
