Over view of Budget highlights for 2016-17

Overview of Budget highlights for 2016-17* Five special tourism zones, anchored on SPVs, to be set up; Incredible India II campaign to be launched across the world* Expert international assistance will be harnessed to improve railway safety preparedness and maintenance practices* Allocation for infrastructure at record Rs 3,96,135 crore in 2017-18* National Testing Agency to be established to conduct all entrance exams for higher education* Innovation Fund for secondary education to be created* Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras to be extended to more than 600 districts across the country* Mahila Shakti Kendras to be set up at the village level, in 14 lakh ICDS centers, with an allocation of Rs. 500 crore* Net tax revenue grew by 17 percent in 2015-16* Committed to making taxation rate reasonable, our tax administration more fair and expand the tax base of the country* Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana lending target has been doubled at Rs 2.44 lakh crore for 2017-18* 3,500 km railway lines to be commissioned in 2017-18 against 2,800 km in 2016-17* Railways plan size for 2017-18 pegged at Rs. 1,31,000 crore, including Rs 55,000 crore to be provided by the government* Using space technology in a big way to plan MGNREGA works* During 2017-18, another 5 lakh ponds to be constructed for drought-proofing* AadharPay, a merchant version of Aadhaar-enabled payment system to be launched shortly for those without debit cards, mobile phones* Sanitation coverage in rural areas has gone up to 60 percent* Swachh Bharat Mission has made tremendous progress in promoting safe sanitation and ending open defecation* By 2019 all passenger coaches of railways to be fitted with bio-toilets* 1 crore houses to be completed by 2019 for houseless and those living in kaccha houses* Rs 19,000 crore in 2017-18 for PMGSY; together with contribution from states, Rs 27,000 crore to be spent* Total allocation for rural, agricultural & allied sectors for 2017-18 is a record Rs 1,87,223 crore, up 24 percent from last year* Target for agricultural credit in 2017-18 has been fixed at a record Rs 10 lakh crore * Coverage of Faisal Bima Yojana to go up from 30 percent of cropped area, to 40 percent in 2017-18, 50 percent in 2018-19* NABARD to set up dedicated micro-irrigation fund to be set to achieve Per Drop More Crop mission* Corpus of NABARD s long-term irrigation fund raised to Rs 40,000 crore * Mini soil-testing labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras to ensure 100 per cent coverage* Highest ever allocation to MGNREGA at Rs 48,000 crore*Merger of Railway Budget with Budget 2017 a historic step* Transform, Energize and Clean India - #TECIndia - our agenda for the next year* Advancement of budget will enable all ministries, departments to operationalize all schemes right from beginning of next fiscal* Demonetisation aims to create a new normal, where the GDP would be bigger, cleaner and real* Effects of demonetization not expected to spill over to next year* Firmly believe that GST, Demonetisation, built on JAM, will have an epoch-making impact on the lives of our people* Demonetisation aims to create a new normal, where the GDP would be bigger, cleaner and real* Recalls #MahatmaGandhi s words: A right cause never fails * 3 challenges in current global scenario: speciallyMonetary stance of US FED Reserve, Commoditespecially crude oil & retreat from globalization* We have moved from a discretionary administration to a policy-based administration* Expectations included burning issues like inflation and price rise, issue of corruption & crony capitalism* Our government was elected amidst huge expectations of people, the underlying theme of expectations being good governance* Hope to resolve all issues regarding GST via consultations* We are moving from informal to formal economy & the Government is now seen as a trusted custodian of public money