NEW DELHI: Belying all expectations of India Inc. of fiscal sops to weather the impact of the global downturn, the United Progressive Alliance government, in the interim budget 2009-10 presented on Monday, announced a massive allocation of Rs. 1,31,317 crore for its various flagship programmes to spur the economy and benefit the common man. It also indicated the need for tax relief in 2009-10, when the regular budget is presented by a new regime after the Lok Sabha elections.
Presenting the interim budget for a vote-on-account for the necessary government expenditure in the first four months of the new fiscal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who holds charge of Finance, desisted from announcing any sops as he did not have the parliamentary mandate to “tweak” the rates and did whatever he could under the constraints.
“Constitutional propriety requires that new government formulates the tax and expenditure policies for 2009-10… Therefore, I am presenting an interim budget for the purpose of vote-on-account to enable the government to meet expenditure during the first four months of the next financial year,” he said.
Detailing the performance of the UPA regime with regard to its Common Minimum Programme and achieving a gross domestic product growth of 9 per cent and above in three consecutive years till 2007-08, he highlighted the steps taken to tackle the slowdown in the current fiscal.
Besides making a much higher allocation for defence at Rs 1,41,703 crore in view of the deteriorating security environment owing to cross-border terrorism, Mr. Mukherjee announced massive spending on social sector schemes for the larger benefit of the “aam aadmi.” Among these, the Bharat Nirman programme was allocated Rs. 40,900 crore while Rs. 30,100 crore has been set apart for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the new fiscal.
With the thrust on higher spending on the social sector, the “Sarva Siksha Abhiyan” has been allocated Rs. 13,100 crore, the Integrated Child Development Services Rs. 6,705 crore, the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Scheme Rs. 11,842 crore, the National Rural Health Mission Rs. 12,070 crore, the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission Rs. 7,400 crore and the Total Rural Sanitation Programme Rs. 1,200 crore.
“In the current environment, there is a clear need for contra-cyclical policy and it calls for a substantial increase in expenditure in infrastructure development, where we have a large gap and in rural development where programmes such as Bharat Nirman and NREGS are playing a vital role,” he said.
Huge allocations for flagship schemes:
1. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan : 31,100 crores
2. Integrated child development scheme : 6,705 crores
3. JNURNS : 11,842 crores
4. National rural health mission : 12,070 crores
5. Rajiv Gandhi Rural drinking water mission : 7, 400 crores
6. Total rural sanitation programme : 1,200 crore
7. Bharat Nirman : 40,900 crores (Covers rural roads, telephony, irrigation, drinking water supply, housing and electrification).
8. NREGS : 30,100 crores (Which generated employement for 138.76 crore man days covering 3.51 crore households, gets an increased allocation of 30,100 crores)
New Schemes :
1. Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension :
2. Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme
3. Unique identification Project
Fiscal Defecit
http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/17/stories/2009021760031600.htm (for more info)
Unique Identification Project
1. Allocation : 100 crores
2. The Unique Identification Authority of India is being established under the aegis of the Planning Commission for which a notification has been issued in January 2009. A provision of Rs.100 crore has been made in the annual Plan 2009-10 for this,” Mr. Mukherjee said while presenting the interim budget.
3. The project envisages assigning a unique identification number to each resident in the country. It aims at eliminating the need for multiple identification mechanism prevalent across various government departments. The government has been working on improving arrangements to ensure that development deliverables reach the intended beneficiaries.
National Investigation Agency
1. Alloted with 10 crores
2. The NIA, under the administrative control of the Home Ministry, was set up by an Act of Parliament in December last. The agency has concurrent jurisdiction which empowers the Centre to probe terror attacks in any part of the country, covering offences such as challenge to the country’s sovereignty and integrity, bomb blasts, hijack of aircraft and ships, and attacks on nuclear installations.
Central Plan Outlay By Sectors
Vehicle Tracking is become compulsory for many type of security purpose.
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