The Union Budget 2023 has finally arrived as the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the fifth budget of the Modi Government. The budget as promised has delivered on many lines. The FM ensured the house that the Indian Economy is growing steadily and is on the right track. The budget has focused on seven key areas- Inclusive Development, Infrastructure, Education, Utilising the Youth Potential, Growth of Digital India, Empowering Startups and Entrepreneurs, and focusing on Green Energy.
While praising the 2023 budget Youth Leader and Social Worker Vikalp Singh said- "The budget caught many off guard as the finance minister announced new tax slabs for taxpayers and said that this would now be the default slabs for the payers. While the economies around the world are struggling with their growth and thus racing towards increasing tax slabs, India has adopted a rather bold approach in decreasing the tax slabs to offer some relief for the middle class."
This year's budget has also focused a lot on the country's youth and while reflecting on this Vikalp said- "India has the largest population of youths in the world and it is no surprise that the biggest asset for the country has been given massive emphasis in the 2023 budget." Prime importance has been given to utilise the underlying capabilities of youth. Vikalp continued-"The education sector saw big announcements such as setting up Eklavaya Model Residential Schools in the next 3 years. The Centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for 740 schools which will serve around 3.5 lakh tribal students. 157 nursing schools will also be set up in collaboration with already existing 157 medical colleges of the country."
Singh also said that there is no doubt Youths are vital in nation building but their true potential of youths can be utilised only when they have the required skills to compete with the world and contribute in the development. "Skill development has also been in the limelight, as Government aims to launch Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 and in addition to this, 30 Skill India International Centres will be set up across different States to skill the youth for opportunities available globally. Training in new age courses like Robotics, IOT, 3D Printing, AI, drones, etc, would be given to make youth excel in tech for good. The government also looks to reduce dependency on conventional methods of energy and invest in greener and cleaner energy alternatives. And to implement this Rs 35,000 crores priority capital for the energy transition has been proposed by the Modi Government."
"Startups and Entrepreneurs are likely to benefit from the budget as well as small scale entrepreneurs and ease of business has also been given prime importance." Singh said. To promote MSMEs, a new credit guarantee system will come into effect from April 1,2023 with an infusion of Rs. 9000 crores in corpus. To increase Ease of Doing Business, the government has proposed to set up a Central Processing Centre which will fasten the process of registering companies. In addition to this more than 39,000 compliances have been removed and over 3,400 legal provisions decriminalised to enhance ease of doing business.
In the past decade, the country has gone under massive digital transformation and a lot of it has happened under the Modi Regime. While pointing out the budget's focus on Digital India, Vikalp said-" With an improved Digilocker, and a grant of Rs. 7000 crore phase 3 of E-Courts projects is expected to be in full swing. To promote Digital India, 100 labs will be set up across engineering institutions which will be at the helm of developing apps for smart classes, agriculture, and healthcare sectors."
Combining elements of skill development and digital, a unified Skill India platform will be launched for enabling demand-based formal skilling, linking with employers including MSMEs, and facilitating access to entrepreneurship schemes. Also, a National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents will be setup for facilitating availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels, and device agnostic accessibility.
The tourism sector can be a game changer for the country and this also reflects in the budget as well. While noting down the tourism sector mentions in the budget Vikalp said- "At least 50 tourist destinations will be selected through a challenge mode to be developed as a complete package for domestic and foreign tourists. Sector specific skilling and entrepreneurship development to be dovetailed to achieve the objectives of the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative for tourism."
This article is generated and published by FPJ focus team. You can get in touch with them on fpjfocus@fpj.co.in.
