BUDGET 2017-2018 Hon'ble Finance Minister of India, Mr. Arun Jaitley has presented the Union Budget for 2017-18 today (i.e. 01.02.2017). It's the 1st time that both Union Budget and Railway Budget were presented together at the cabinet. Another interesting fact is that the budget for this year has been announced early so that the implementation of the work mentioned under it can be done in time. The budget includes several perks, schemes, and funds allocation for salaried employees, farmers, poor, women, children, youth, senior citizens and rural people of the country. The major announcement been made under the budget speech by Finance Minister is reduction of income tax rate from existing 10% to 5% for salaried employees who have annual income of INR 2,50,000 to 500,000. The norm of planned and non-planned expenditures has been done away with. Here are other highlights from today's budget presented at the parliament.

1. BUDGET2017-2018
Highlights
Agriculture
Youth
Agricultureexpenditurefor2017-18istargetedatINR10lakhcroresandplansof
inclusionofunderservedareassuchasStatesandJammuandKashmir.
Farmerstogetbetterincomesecuritywithgovernmenteffortstodoubletheirin-
comesin5years.
60-dayinterestwaiveronagricultureloans.
FasalBimaYojnacoverageextendedto40%from30%.
Settingupminisoiltestinglabs,‘KrishiVigyanKendra’tosupportsoilhealth
maintenanceforfarmers.
SettingupaINR5000croremicroirrigationfundunderNABARDtoachievethe
goalof“perdropmorecrop.
IncreaseincoverageofElectronicNationalAgricultureMarket(eNAM)from250
to585markets,andeacheNAMtogetassistanceofuptoINR7lakhsfromthe
government.
FundofINR8000crorestobeallocatedtothemilkprocessingunitsforbetter
milkprocessingfacilities.
FinanceMinisterMr.ArunJaitleypresentedtheUnionBudget,2017alittlewhileago.Hereareafewtakeawaysfromhis
speechintheparliamenttoday,whichwasprobablythemostawaitedbudgetspeechintherecentyears!
IncreaseinallocationunderMNREGAtoINR48,000croresfromINR38,500crores.
ParticipationofwomeninMNREGAincreasedto55%from45%.
SpacetechnologywillbeusedtomonitorMNREGAimplementation.
Nationaltestingagencywillbeconductingallexaminationsinhighereducation.This
willfreeCBSEandotheragencies.
Inhighereducation,reformsinUGCwillbeundertaken,andautonomytocollegesand
institutionswillbegiven.
Asystemtomeasureannuallearningoutcomeinschoolswillbeintroduced.
Innovationfundtobesetupforsecondaryeducation.
PradhanMantriKaushalKendraswillbeextendedto600districtsand100interna-
tionalskillcentreswillbeopenedtohelppeopleingettingjobsabroad.
Digitalisation AadhaarPayapptobelaunchedformerchants.
20lakhaadhaar-basedPOStobesetupbySeptember2017.
BHIMapp–alreadylaunchedandbeingusedby1.25crorepeoplealreadyfor
digitalpayments.
IntroductionoftwonewschemesforpromotingBHIMApp-cashbackfortrad-
ersandreferralbonusforusers.
Toencouragedigitalpayment,dutytobeexemptedonvariousPOSmachines
andIRISreaders.
IncomeTax ForIncomeTaxslab2.5lakhto5lakhsperannum,incometaxratereducedfrom
10%to5%.
Surchargeof10%forpeoplehavingannualincomeofINR50lakhto1crore.
ForthosewhoseannualincomeisaboveINR1crore,15%surchargetocontinue.
TaxrateforsmallfirmshavingturnoverofuptoINR50croretobereducedto25%
from30%.
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Others 1crorehouseswillbeconstructedby2019forhomelessandforthosewhoare
livinginkacchahouses.PMAwasYojanaallocationhasbeenraisedfromINR
15,000croretoINR23,000croreforthesame.
100%electrificationofvillagestobeachievedbyMay2018.
1.5lakhhealthsubcentreswillbeconvertedtoHealthWellnessCentres.
INR500croretobeallocatedtosetupMahilaShaktiKendras.
AllocationforwomenandchildwelfaretoberaisedfromINR1.56lakhcroretoINR
1.84lakhcrore.
NationalHousingBank(NHB)willrefinanceindividualloansofINR20,000crorein
2017-18.
Aadhaarbasedhealthcardswillbeissuedtoseniorcitizens.
Servicechargeone-ticketsbookedviaIRCTCtobewithdrawn.
Aschemetobelaunchedforseniorcitizenstoensure8%guaranteedreturns.
LaunchofTradeInfrastructureExportSchemein2017-18withatotalallocationof
INR3.96lakhcroreforinfra.
DistributiontargetunderMudraYojanatobedoubledtoINR2.44lakhcrorefor
2017-18.
RecommendationmadebyBlackmoneySIThasbeenacceptedbythegovernment
fornocashtransactionofvaluemorethanINR3lakh.
MaximumcashdonationthatcanbereceivedbyanypartywillbecappedatINR
2000fromonesource.
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