New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the “all-inclusive and visionary” Budget 2023-24 will give further impetus to the Modi government’s resolve for building a self-reliant India, taking every section along. In a series of tweets in Hindi with the hashtag ‘#AmritKaalBudget’, Shah said the target of increasing capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development and keeping the fiscal deficit at 5.9 per cent is commendable. This reflects the foresight of the Modi government to build a new India with strong infrastructure and a strong economy, he said.
“The budget-2023 brought by the Modi government is a budget that lays a strong foundation of Amritkal. I am sure that this all-inclusive and visionary budget will give further impetus to the resolve of the Modi government for a self-reliant India, taking every section along. Congratulations to @narendramodi and (union finance minister) @nsitharaman for this,” the Home Minister said. Shah thanked Prime Minister Modi for giving huge tax relief to the middle and salaried class as the budget proposed to increase tax rebate limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh. “The unprecedented changes in tax slabs will greatly benefit the middle class. Along with this, I also welcome the relief given to government employees,” he said.
Welcoming the decision to set up a National Digital Library to make books available to youngsters, the Home Minister said the foundation of the bright future of any country is its educated and skilled young generation. He said the allocation for agriculture loans has been increased to Rs 20 lakh crore. The Agriculture Accelerator Fund will be created to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs. Along with this, for the next three years, one crore farmers will be helped to do natural farming and 10,000 Bio Input Resource Centers will be set up.
Shah said a budget provision of Rs 2.4 lakh crore has been made for railways, which will connect remote areas with railways. Along with this, the decision to revive 50 airports, heliports and advanced landing grounds in the country will increase regional air connectivity, which will give a boost to tourism. In this budget, he said, it has been decided to start the PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman Yojana to make the country’s traditional artisans and craftsmen self-reliant.
This decision will make a big difference in the lives of ‘Vishwakarmas’ by enabling them to enhance the quality and market reach of their products. The Modi government is working with a determined spirit to raise the standard of living of crores of people through cooperatives, following the mantra of ‘prosperity from cooperation’, he said. “Today, the unprecedented decisions taken in the budget to strengthen the cooperative sector are a symbol of this resolution,” he said.
With the plan to set up the world’s largest decentralised storage capacity in the budget, he said, the farmers associated with cooperative societies will be able to store their produce and sell the produce at the right time and get a fair price. This will play an important role in Modi’s resolve to increase the income of farmers, he said. Also, in the next 5 years, the home minister said, the government will facilitate the establishment of new multipurpose cooperative societies, primary fisheries societies and dairy cooperative societies in every panchayat.
With this, the cooperative movement will get new direction and momentum, due to which this sector will be more empowered, he said. “Thanks to Prime Minister Modi for keeping the cooperative societies in the manufacturing sector formed till March 31, 2024 only in the 15 per cent tax net,” he said. In another important decision for the cooperative sector, sugar cooperatives have been given the facility to reflect the payments made to farmers before 2016-17 in their expenses. The cooperative sugar mills will get Rs 10,000 crore relief from this proposal. “I welcome this,” he said.
