Our Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley presents general Budget 2018-19 in Parliament. As per the Finance Ministry, India is a Rs. 2.5 trillion economy. This is the first budget after big-ticket economic reforms like the Goods and Services Tax, dynamic fuel pricing, mega PSU bank recapitalization and more.
The Rail Budget, like last year, will be presented as part of the Union Budget.
Railways in Union Budget 2018
Total capital expenditure for Indian Railways set at Rs 1,48,528 crores.
A Special Railway University will also be set up in Vadodara, Gujarat.
In order to cut travel times and delays, the FM proposed cutting 4,267 unmanned railway crossings.
In a bid to overhaul the railway stations’ infrastructure, all station that have a footfall of 25,000 passengers will now have escalators.
To provide connectivity on the go, all trains will soon be equipped with CCTVs and Wi-Fi.
Allocations for Mumbai rail network was pegged at Rs 11,000 crore and for Bengaluru Metro, Rs 17,000 crore was allocated.
Health:
Under Aayushman Bharat program Rs. 5 lakh medical insurance cover per year is provided for 10 crore families
1.5 lakh centres will be set up to provide health facilities close to home
Proposed to set up one medical college for every 3 parliamentary constituencies
Rural economy:
Under PM Saubhagya Yojana 4 crore poor people will get power connection.
Govt plans to construct 2 crore toilets in next fiscal year under Swach Bharat Mission
The government set target housing for all by 2022. 1 cr houses to be built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in rural areas
set up a Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FAIDF) for fisheries sector and an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for financing infrastructure requirement of animal husbandry sector with a total corpus of Rs.10,000 crore for the two new funds
Education:
Rs. 1 lakh crore allocated to revitalization and up-gradation of the education sector.
By 2022, every block with more than 50 percent ST population will have Ekalvya schools
Employment in Union Budget 2018
Government pledges contribution of 12 per cent in wages of new employees in all sectors for the upcoming 3 years under EPF scheme.
Women contribution to EPF slashed for initial three years to 8 per cent.
Industry in Union Budget 2018
Mass formalization of MSME industry after GST and demonetisation.
Allocation of Rs 3,794 crore capital support and industry subsidy by 2022 for the MSME sector.
The finance minister said Rs 4.6 lakh crore was sanctioned under Mudra Yojana.
Consumers get relief with excise cut on fuel.
Excise on unbranded diesel was cut by Rs 2 to Rs 6.33 per litre and the same deduction was given from unbranded petrol top Rs 4.48 per litre.
Technology:
Rs. 3,073 cr allocated for Digital India scheme
5 lakh WiFi hotspots will be installed to give access to broadband services to 5 crore rural citizens.
Govt is planning to explore the usage of Blockchain technology
Employee-centric schemes:
Government will contribute 12% of the wage of new employees in Employee Provident Fund in all sectors for next three years
Women contribution to EPF reduced to 8% for first 3 years
Social security:
Under Ujwala Yojana 8 cr women would get free LPG
For boosting livelihood opportunities and private enterprise, target for loans to self-help group for women has been increased to Rs 75,000 crore