New Delhi, February 1 (Language)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday termed the General Budget 2023-24 as “historic”, saying it would lay a strong foundation to fulfill the “grand vision” of a developed India. In a video message after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the general budget in both houses of Parliament, the Prime Minister said, “This budget gives priority to the underprivileged, it is today’s aspirational society, villages, poor, farmers, middle class, Will fulfill everyone’s dreams. The Prime Minister said that he congratulates Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team for this “all-encompassing and giving impetus to building a developed India” budget. Referring to the provision of Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman Yojana (PM-Vikas) in the budget, Modi said that for the first time in the budget, the government has brought a scheme for such hardworking and creative people, which will make a big difference in their lives. He said, ‘Many major steps have been taken to bring changes in the standard of living of our women living from village to city, they will now be taken forward with more strength.’ The Prime Minister said that the initiatives taken in the budget for the all-round development of women self-help groups will give them a new dimension. He said that ‘Mahila Samman Savings Certificate’ scheme has now come as a special savings scheme after Jan Dhan accounts and it is going to give great strength to the women of ordinary families. The Prime Minister said that this budget will make cooperatives the pivot of development of rural economy. He said, “The government has made the world’s largest food storage scheme in the cooperative sector. An ambitious plan to form new primary cooperatives has also been announced in the budget. With this, the area of milk and fish production will expand along with farming, farmers, animal husbandry and fishermen will get better price for their produce. Referring to the success of digital transactions, the Prime Minister talked about repeating it in the agriculture sector and said that this is the reason why a huge scheme for “Digital Agriculture Infrastructure” has been brought in this budget.
Mentioning about the year of coarse grains being celebrated, he said that it is now reaching every household and is becoming popular all over the world and small farmers of India will get maximum benefit from it. He said, ‘It needs a new identity, a special identity. So now this super-food has been given a new identity of Shree-Anna. Many schemes have also been made for its promotion. With the priority given to Shree-Anna, the small farmers of the country, the tribal brothers and sisters who do farming, will get financial support and the countrymen will get a healthy life. The Prime Minister said this budget will give unprecedented impetus to green growth, green economy, green energy, green infrastructure and green jobs for a sustainable future. He said that a lot of emphasis has been laid on technology and new economy in the budget. He said that aspirational India today wants modern infrastructure in every field be it road, rail, metro, port, waterways, therefore investment in infrastructure has been increased by more than 400 percent as compared to 2014. He said that this time the capital expenditure on infrastructure development has been made in the budget of Rs 10 lakh crore and this ‘unprecedented’ investment will give new energy and speed to India’s development. He said, “This investment will create new employment opportunities for the youth. Will provide new income opportunities to a very large population.
