Twelve key ideas of PM Narendra Modi that found focus in Budget 2014 NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi-led NDA governments maiden budget took a step forward on several of the Prime Ministers key schemes. Modi has through the past few months consistently emphasised on the need to develop infrastructure, skill youth, create better and cleaner cities, as a part of his vision for India. We take a look at twelve such initiatives that found a major push in Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys budget: 1) 100 Smart Cities: Giving direction to Modis vision of building multiple smart cities in India, Jaitley said the government will aim to spend Rs 7060 crore for 100 smart cities. Jaitley said, The Prime Minister has a vision of developing one hundred Smart cities as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernising the existing mid-sized cities. With development reaching an increasingly large number of people, the pace of migration from the rural areas to the cities is increasing. The new cities should be developed to accommodate the burgeoning number of people. Otherwise, the existing cities would soon become unlivable, he said. 2) Skill India Programme: Looking to harness the demographic dividend, Jaitley said that government will work on skill development of youth. The government announced the launch of a national Multi-Skill programme called Skill India. This programme would skill the youth with an emphasis on employability and entrepreneur skills, Jaitley said. It will also provide training and support for traditional professions like welders, carpenters, cobblers, masons, blacksmiths and weavers etc, he elaborated. Convergence of various schemes to attain this objective is also proposed, he added. 3) Housing for all by 2022: Stating that the government is committed to endeavour to have housing for all by 2022, Jaitley said, We will extend additional tax incentive on home loans to encourage people, especially the young, to own houses. The government has hiked the housing interest rate deduction limit to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh on personal home loans. It has proposed to set up a Mission on Low Cost Affordable Housing to be anchored in the National Housing Bank. Jaitley said that a sum of Rs 4,000 crore has been earmarked for National Housing Bank with a view to increase the flow of cheaper credit for affordable housing to the urban poor/EWS/LIG segment. 4) Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan: Moving towards NDA governments Swachh Bharat Abhiya, Jaitley said, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the need for sanitation is of utmost importance. Although the central government is providing resources within its mean, the task of total sanitation cannot be achieved without the support of all, Jaitley said. The government intends to cover every household by total sanitation by the year 2019, Jaitley said. We want to celebrate the 150th year of the birth anniversary of Mahatama Gandhi through the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Jaitley said. 5) Ganga cleaning: With focus on river linking study, Jaitley said, We will allot Rs 100 crore to fund the river linking study. The government also proposes to allocate Rs 2037 crore to clean up Ganga, he said. Jaitley also said that the government will set up an NRI fund to boost Gangas clean up. The Mission is being launched because a substantial amount of money has been spent in the conservation and improvement of the river Ganga but the efforts have not yielded desired results because of the lack of concerted effort by all the stakeholders, he said. The Finance Minister has also set aside a sum of Rs. 100 crore for Ghat development and beautification of river front at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi in the current financial year since Riverfronts and Ghats are not only places of rich historical heritage but many of these are also sacred. 6) Solar & renewable energy: Jaitley announced several initiatives for strengthening energy sector. Jaitley proposed to take up Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Laddakh in J&K. A sum of Rs 500 crore is allocated for this purpose. He also allocated a sum of Rs 400 crore for launching a scheme for Solar Power driven agricultural pump sets and water pumping stations. An additional amount of Rs 100 core is set aside for the development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the banks of canals. Implementation of Green Energy Corridor Projects will be accelerated in this financial year to facilitate evacuation of renewable energy across the country. 7) Promoting tourism: The budget proposes to create 5 tourist circuits around specific themes for which a sum of Rs 500 crore has been set aside in the current financial year. Jaitley said that Indias rich cultural, historical, religious and natural heritage provides a huge potential for the development of tourism and job creation as an industry. Sarnath-Gaya-Varanasi Buddhist circuit would also be developed with world class tourist amenities to attract tourists from all over the world, he added.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 17:08:45 +0000
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