In her Union Budget 2021–22 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that metro lite and metro neo will be launched for smaller cities.
She added that the Indian Railways has prepared a national plan for 2030 that will bring down the logistics cost. "Emphasis will be laid on the expansion of the metro network across the country. Metro lite, metro neo will be deployed," she said.
Sitharaman also said that the Budget proposals for 2021–22 rest on six pillars—health and well-being, physical and financial capital and infrastructure, inclusive development for an aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation and R&D, and minimum government-maximum governance.
She said the total financial impact of all Atmanirbhar Bharat packages, including measures taken by the RBI, was estimated to be about Rs 27.1 lakh crore, with an amount of more than 13 per cent of the GDP.
"When I presented Budget 2020–21, we could not have imagined that the global economy, already in slowdown, would be pushed into an unprecedented contraction. We could not have imagined then that our people as those in other countries would have to endure the loss of near and dear and suffer hardships due to health [a] crisis. The risk of not having a lockdown was far more and far too high," she said.
Sitharaman pointed out that within 48 hours of declaring a three-week lockdown, the Prime Minister announced PM Garib Kalyan Yojana valued at Rs 2.76 lakh crore that provided free food, free foodgrain to 800 million people, free cooking gas to 80 million families for months, and cash directly to over 400 million farmers, women, elderly, poor, and needy.
"In May 2020, the government announced the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package to sustain the recovery further into the year. We also rolled out two Aatmanirbhar Bharat packages. The total financial impact of all Aatmanirbhar Bharat packages, including measures taken by the RBI, was estimated to be about Rs 27.1 lakh crore, with [an] amount more than 13 per cent of [the] GDP," the minister added.
(With inputs from agencies)
