Hours after donning a crisp red-coloured saree with off-white detailing and gold border, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman changed into a yellow saree with grey and gold border.
Yellow is typically considered as one of the most luminous of all the colours of the spectrum that signifies happiness, optimism, enlightenment and creativity.
Photo by PTI
Sitharaman changed into a different saree for the post-Budget press conference.
To present the Budget, Sitharaman wore a red saree and completed her look with a gold chain and bangles and tiny earrings. The red colour, which is considered auspicious, represents the strongest emotions including love, energy, attention, and power.
Photo by PTI
Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, replacing her signature 'bahi khata', she opted to carry the documents in a tablet, which was wrapped in a red-coloured cover with national emblem emblazoned on it.
Sitharaman's sartorial choices have made headlines on many occasions - from donning beautiful handloom sarees to sporting silk sarees. For the unversed, she likes wearing subtle yet classy handloom and silk sarees to work. And it is safe to say that it is her wardrobe arithmetic that gives her appearance a distinct stamp.
Sitharaman presented the Budget 2021-22 that lasted around one hour and 50 minutes – a shorter speech compared to the last two years where she spoke for over two hours.
In 2020, she was not able to complete her speech after speaking for a record 160 minutes in the Lok Sabha.
During her third budget speech in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said that the government is committed to the welfare of farmers and the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime has undergone a change.
Sitharaman said: "The MSP regime has undergone a change to assure price that is at least 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities. The procurement has also continued to increase at a steady pace, this has resulted in an increase in payment of farmers, substantially." The Finance Minister also said that there is a substantial increase in investment in Health Infrastructure and the Budget outlay for Health and Wellbeing is Rs 2,23,846 crore in Budget Estimates (BE) 2021-22 as against this year's BE of Rs 94,452 crore, an increase of 137 per cent.
In the Budget 2020-21, Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan for India - 2030. The Plan is to create a 'future ready' Railway system by 2030. Bringing down the logistic costs for our industry is at the core of our strategy to enable 'Make in India'. It is expected that Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and Eastern DFC will be commissioned by June 2022.
The central government is allocating Rs 1,41,678 crores for Swachh Bharat 2.0. Sitharaman also announced an outlay of Rs 2,217 crores for 42 urban centers with a million-plus population, to tackle the burgeoning problem of air pollution.
The Finance Minister today announced an allocation of Rs 4,78,195.62 crore for the defence sector for 2021-22 as against last year's Rs 4,71,378 crore (including Defence Pension). Excluding pensions, it is pegged at Rs 3.62 lakh crore from last year's Rs 3.37 lakh crore.
The Budget proposals for 2021-22 on Monday put Rs 1.75 lakh crore as a target from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions.
