GUEST COLUMN : Budget focuses on dreams
of rural India along with Digital India
Wednesday, 02 February 2022 | HC Purohit
A look at the Union budget 2022 presented by the Finance Minister shows that it has been prepared while keeping the interests of villagers, poor, farmers and labourers at the center. In the budget a provision has been made to provide 80,00,000 houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Budget has also been provided under the Har Ghar Nal Yojana. For the expansion of banking facilities in rural areas, there is a provision to connect 1.50 lakh post offices with banking services. Under Digital India, 75 banks with digital facilities will be established in 75 districts of the country and digital universities will also be established. Digital currency will be introduced by RBI and 30 per cent will be levied on the income from crypto-currency, which will provide options to the investor to invest in that sector. In the context of Uttarakhand, the scheme will be helpful in expanding the facilities of communication and transportation in the border and rural areas of the state. From the point of view of tourism development, the ropeway project will prove helpful in the development of tourist places in 13 districts of the state. The government has declared the year 2023 as the year of coarse grains- it will prove to be helpful in the promotion and marketing of food grains, especially in Uttarakhand. In the budget, corporate tax has been cut for cooperatives, as well as surcharge has also been reduced, this will lead to development and expansion of cooperatives in the state and help in employment generation at the local level. With a view to encourage start-ups, a task force will be formed, which will prove to be an incentive to innovation, as well as new start-ups will remain tax free till the next year. It will give an impetus to employment generation and entrepreneurship development. For the expansion of health facilities, digital health facilities in rural areas and mental health centres will be established for the citizens suffering from depression in this time period of pandemic. It would help in building a healthy India. With a view to give much needed mobility to the country, 400 Vande Bharat trains will be started and 25,000 kilometres of highways will be built. The channels of PM e-Vidya will be increased from 12 to 200 for online education and 400 channels will be operated for supplementary education, which will make online education accessible in rural areas.
The provision of loan without interest to the states for 50 years will help the budding states like Uttarakhand to develop infrastructure. Capacity development programmes for agricultural universities and farmers for promotion of organic farming, zero budget and natural farming for agricultural reforms will prove to be important for agricultural reforms. By developing the corridor along the Ganga, the productivity of agriculture will improve and the cause of Ganga will also be ensured. The operation of the programme under the River Linking Project will help in disaster management and the irrigation system of the farmers will be smooth and the problem of drinking water will also be solved. Women empowerment will be encouraged under Mission Shakti, under which 2,00,000 Anganwadi centers will be upgraded.
The salaried class has been disappointed due to no change in the income tax slab, but an attempt has been made to give relief to the middle class by contributing 14 per cent under the new pension scheme. An important decision was taken with a view to simplify the income tax process and the facility of filing income tax returns for two years was given. In addition to increasing the budget in the defence sector, a provision of 25 per cent of the budget has been made for research development which will help in the modernisation of the army.
Skill development programmes will be conducted in selected ITIs. Despite the Covid era, the country’s economy is on the path of continuous progress, as a result of which the revenue of the government under GST is considerable in the last year.
(The author is an economist and head of department, Management, in the Doon University. Views expressed are personal.)
