India Budget 2024: Sitharaman says PM Modi's govt working towards making country ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047
India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds up the budget folder.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be working towards making the country a 'Viksit Bharat' (developed India) by 2047, as she tabled the 2024 interim Budget in the Parliament.
Sitharaman, who presented her sixth budget in a row, also emphasised the government's aim to work towards an economic and social development model which is "all round, all inclusive, and all pervasive".
In her speech, the finance minister said, "Our young country has high aspirations, pride in the present, and hope and confidence in its bright future."
The finance minister added, "For our government, social justice is an effective and necessary governance model... covering all eligible people is true social justice... secularism. It reduces corruption and prevents nepotism."
Sitharaman emphasised the need to focus on four categories of citizens - the poor, women, young people, and farmers - and added that their needs and aspirations were the "highest priority" of the government.
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"All four require and receive government support, their empowerment and well-being will drive the country forward. The earlier approach of tackling poverty resulted in very modest outcomes," she said.
"But when the poor became empowered partners in the development process, the government's power to assist increases manifold," Sitharaman added, emphasising how 25 crore people had been freed from multidimensional poverty in the last 10 years under the Modi government.
Focus On Poor, Women, Youth, Farmers, says Sitharaman
Finance Minister Sitharaman asserted that the government has been working with an approach to development that is "all-round, all-inclusive and all-pervasive" ('sarvangin', 'sarvasparshi'and'sarvasamaveshi').
"As our Prime Minister firmly believes, we need to focus on four major castes, they aregareeb(poor),mahilayein(women),yuva(youth) andannadata(farmers). Their needs, their aspirations and their welfare are our highest priority," the minister said.
"The country progresses when they progress. All four require, and receive, government support in their quest to better their lives. Their empowerment and well-being will drive the country forward," she added.
(With inputs from agencies)