On Monday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her third Budget keeping in mind the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The preparation of this Budget was undertaken in circumstances like never before, in view of calamities that have affected a country or a region within a country. But what we have endured with COVID-19 to 2020 is sui generis," she said.
Speaking about the COVID-19 vaccines, Sitharaman said, "Aatmanirbhar Bharat packages accelerated structural reforms. Today, India has two vaccines, and we have begun to safeguard both our citizens as well as 100 or more countries. Two or more vaccines [are] also expected soon."
"India now has one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates of 112 per million population and one of the lowest [number of] active cases of about 130 per million. This has laid the foundation for the economic revival we see today," she added.
In this year's Budget, keeping in mind the coronavirus situation in India, Sitharaman proposed to allot Rs 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccines.
The Finance Minister added that investment in health infrastructure in Budget 2021 has been increased substantially. She noted that the three focus areas of Budget 2021 are preventive health, curative health, and well-being.
Sitharaman proposed to launch the new Centre-sponsored scheme PM Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over six years to develop capacities of healthcare systems, and develop institutions for detection and cure of new and emerging diseases.
She proposed to merge the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and POSHAN Abhiyaan. Apart from this, Mission POSHAN 2.0 will be launched to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, and outcome. Sitharaman said that the strategy would be intensified for improving nutritional outcomes in aspirational districts in the country.
Pneumococcal vaccine, a Made-in-India product, presently limited to five states, will be rolled out across the country, the Finance Minister announced. "This will avert over 50,000 child deaths annually."
