Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented Budget 2021.
She 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 aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation and R&D, minimum government, and maximum governance.
While presenting the Budget, Sitharaman said, only three times has the Budget followed a contraction in the economy this time, unlike before, the situation is due to a global pandemic Budget 2021 provides every opportunity for the economy to capture the pace and grow sustainably.
From Aatma Nirbhar Bharat packages to Mega Investments Textile Park scheme, here's the full speech of the first paperless Union Budget:
1. Honourable Speaker, the preparation of this Budget was undertaken in circumstances like never before. We knew of calamities that have affected a country or a region within a country, but what we have endured with COVID-19 through 2020 is sui generis.
2. When I presented the Budget 2020-21, we could not have imagined that the global economy, already in throes of a slowdown, would be pushed into an unprecedented contraction.
3. We could not have also imagined then that our people as those in other countries would have to endure the loss of near and dear ones and suffer hardships brought about due to a health crisis.
4. The risk of not having a lockdown was far too high. Within 48 hours of declaring a three-week-long complete lockdown, the Prime Minister announced the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, valued at `2.76 lakh crores – this provided, free food grain to 800 million people, free cooking gas for 80 million families for months, and cash directly to over 400 million farmers, women, elderly, the poor and the needy.
5. Even as a large section of citizens stayed home, milk, vegetable, and fruit-suppliers, health and sanitary workers, truck drivers, railways and public transport workers, bank employees, electricity workers, our annadatas, police, firemen, and the armed forces, all had to go about their work as normal, but with the additional anxiety of the virus hanging over them. We recognise this, and I think I speak on behalf of everybody in this august House, when I express my heartfelt gratitude to these men and women, for how they were able to carry out their work and duty, to provide for the nation’s basics, over those crucial months.
6. Speaker Sir, for public good, Honourable Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies too offered their salaries.
7. In May 2020, the government announced the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package (ANB 1.0). To sustain the recovery, further into the year, we also rolled out two more AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages (ANB 2.0 and ANB 3.0). Total financial impact of all AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages including measures taken by RBI was estimated to about `27.1 lakh crores which amounts to more than 13% of GDP.
8. As a government, we kept a watch on the situation and were proactive in our responses. The government, led by the Prime Minister, stretched its resources to deliver for most vulnerable sections of our society – the poorest of the poor, the Dalits, Tribals, the elderly, the migrant workers, and our children. The PMGKY, the three ANB packages, and announcements made later were like five mini-budgets in themselves.
9. The AtmaNirbhar Packages accelerated our pace of structural reforms. Redefinition of MSMEs, Commercialisation of the Mineral Sector, Agriculture and Labour Reforms, Privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings, One Nation One Ration Card, and Production Linked Incentive Schemes are some of the notable reforms carried out during this period. Faceless Income Tax Assessment, DBT and Financial Inclusion are the others.
10. Today, India has two vaccines available, and has begun medically safeguarding not only her own citizens against COVID-19, but also those of 100 or more countries. It is added comfort to know that two or more vaccines are also expected soon. 3
11. Honourable Prime Minister launched the vaccination drive by crediting and thanking our scientists. We are ever grateful for the strength and rigour of their efforts.
12. Having said that, we are all reminded time and again that our fight against COVID-19 continues into 2021.
13. Now, just as it had happened after the two World Wars, there are signs that the political, economic, and strategic relations in the post COVID world are changing. This moment in history is the dawn of a new era – one in which India is well-poised to truly be the land of promise and hope. ''Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark''. -Rabindranath Tagore (Fireflies – A Collection of Aphorisms)
14. In this spirit, I can’t help but recall the joy that we, as a cricket-loving nation, felt after Team India’s recent spectacular success in Australia. It has reminded us of all the qualities that we as a people, particularly our youth, epitomise of having abundant promise and the unsuppressed thirst to perform and succeed.
15. Today, data shows that India now has one of the lowest death rate of 112 per million population and one of the lowest active cases of about 130 per million. This has laid the foundation to the revival we are seeing now in the economy.
16. This Budget will be the first of this new decade. This Budget will also be a digital Budget and that has happened with all your support.
17. So far, only three times has a Budget followed a contraction in the economy. All such contractions were as a result of situations typical to India. This time, the contraction in our economy is due to a global pandemic, just like in several other countries.
18. Having said that, I want to confidently state that our Government is fully prepared to support and facilitate the economy’s reset. This Budget provides every opportunity for our economy to raise and capture the pace that it needs for sustainable growth.
19. 2021 is the year of many important milestones for our history. I mention a few of these: It is the 75th year of Independence; 60 years of Goa’s accession to India; 50 years of the 1971 India-Pakistan War; it will be 4 the year of the 8th Census of Independent India; it will also be India’s turn at the BRICS Presidency; the year for our Chandrayaan-3 Mission; and the Haridwar Maha Kumbh.
20. Honourable Speaker, before I commence Part A of the Budget, I want to take a moment to acknowledge how isolating and distancing seemed like insurmountable challenges for a country like ours that has people coming together in times of crises. It hurt us in many ways. I bow my head in respect to every citizen, for the endurance shown in facing what was an undeniably a tough year for all our physical and mental well-being.
Check out the full speech here:
