11. One of the intended objectives of Union Budget 2017-18 is to 'transform, energize and clean India'. Analyse the measures proposed in the Budget 2017-18 to achieve the objective. (250 words)
Ans. The Union Budget of 2017-18 had been presented with the tagline of Transform, Energize and Clean India(TEC) , in this direction government announced major initiatives and changes in the existing schemes and programmes such as
Clean India
Transparency in Electoral Funding
• The donation to political parties in cash to be reduced from Z 20,000 to Z 2000 for one person.
• Electoral Bond to be introduced for tax paid money to be donated while maintaining secrecy.
• Political parties to file their return in time limit prescribed in the Income Tax Act.
Transform India
For Infrastructure Development
• Railways-Capital and Development Expenditure of Z 1,31,000 crore, including Z55,000 crore from the government.
• A rail safety fund named -Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh , will be created with a corpus of Z1 lakh crore over 5 years.
For Farmers
• Long term Irrigation Fund-Corpus enhanced to 40,000 crores.
• Micro Irrigation Fund will be set up by NABARD (corpus of Z 5,000 crore).
• E-NAM will be expanded to 585 APMCs.
For the Poor and Underprivileged
• Mahi.la Shakti Kendras will be set up at village level in 14 lakh Anganwadi Centres for empowering women with opportunities for skill development, employment, health and nutrition.
• Affordable housing will be given infrastructure status. This will enable housing projects to get bank loans on liberal terms.
Measures for Stimulating Growth
• Start-ups to get two relaxations under the scheme of Income Tax holiday given last year.
- The condition of continuous holding of 51 per cent of voting rights to be relaxed as long as the original investment of promotor is not diluted.
- Exemption available for 3 years out of any 7 years from the date of establishment .
Energise India
For Youth, Education & Jobs
• Reforms in UGC will be undertaken.
• SWAYAM platform will be launched with at least 350 online courses.
• SANKALP, a skill development programme, will be launched at a cost of! 4,000 crore to train 3.5 crore youth.
• For leather and footwear industries, a scheme similar to the textile sector, will be implemented .
All these measures have the tendency to really achieve the goal of TEC for Indians so that India can achieve the goal of demographic dividend in a inclusive manner.