This year's budget is 'popular, and not populist': Arun Jaitley
Early years
In the Budget, Jaitley emphasised that his government’s focus is on the agricultural sector and for the benefit of farmers
Finance Minister Aruj Jaitley has described this year's Union Budget as “popular, and not populist”.
In an exclusive interview to Zee Business, Jaitley said, “This Budget was one of the most challenging ones for me. Among the big challenges I had were: How to maintain the fiscal deficit, GDP had slowed down in the past but has now picked up. So how to maintain that growth momentum? Which areas to prioritise etc.”
The interview comes days after Jaitley presented the Union Budget where he announced an ambitious project of providing health insurance to nearly 40 crore population of the country. The government, Jaitley said in Parliament, will provide Rs 5 lakh health insurance to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families in “world’s largest health care programme”.
The Ayushman Bharat Programme, which is being dubbed as “Modicare”, is being compared with Obamacare, the comprehensive health programme launched by former US president Barack Obama.
“These 40 crore poor people have nothing for them. If they or any of their family members fall ill, they only have government hospitals to go to. By providing this comprehensive healthcare scheme, the government is empowering the poor,” Jaitley said.
He added, “This year’s Budget was different than previous years. Our purpose was to consolidate the gains we made in previous years. And we wanted to analyse the areas where we were lagging behind.”
In the Budget, Jaitley emphasised that his government’s focus is on the agricultural sector and for the benefit of farmers, it was announced that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for kharif crops will now be 1.5 times of the input cost. When asked about the roadmap, Jaitley today said that the beneficial effects of the MSP will be known in time to come.