Hon’ble Speaker,

I present the Budget for the year 2021-2022.

Introduction

1. Honourable Speaker, the preparation of this Budget was undertaken in circumstances like never before. We knew of calamities that have affected a country or a region within a country, but what we have endured with COVID-19 through 2020 is sui generis.

• When I presented the Budget 2020-21, we could not have imagined that the global economy, already in throes of a slowdown, would be pushed into an unprecedented contraction.

• We could not have also imagined then that our people as those in other countries would have to endure the loss of near and dear ones and suffer hardships brought about due to a health crisis.

• The risk of not having a lockdown was far too high. Within 48 hours of declaring a three-week-long complete lockdown, the Prime Minister announced the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, valued at `2.76 lakh crores – this provided, free food grain to 800 million people, free cooking gas for 80 million families for months, and cash directly to over 400 million farmers, women, elderly, the poor and the needy.

• Even as a large section of citizens stayed home, milk, vegetable, and fruit-suppliers, health and sanitary workers, truck drivers, railways and public transport workers, bank employees, electricity workers, our annadatas, police, firemen, and the armed forces, all had to go about their work as normal, but with the additional anxiety of the virus hanging over them. We recognise this, and I think I speak on behalf of everybody in this august House, when I express my heartfelt gratitude to these men and women, for how they were able to carry out their work and duty, to provide for the nation’s basics, over those crucial months.

• Speaker Sir, for public good, Honourable Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies too offered their salaries.

• In May 2020, the government announced the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package (ANB 1.0). To sustain the recovery, further into the year, we also rolled out two more AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages (ANB 2.0 and ANB 3.0). Total financial impact of all AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages including measures taken by RBI was estimated to about `27.1 lakh crores which amounts to more than 13% of GDP.

• As a government, we kept a watch on the situation and were proactive in our responses. The government, led by the Prime Minister, stretched its resources to deliver for most vulnerable sections of our society

– the poorest of the poor, the Dalits, Tribals, the elderly, the migrant workers, and our children. The PMGKY, the three ANB packages, and announcements made later were like five mini-budgets in themselves.

• The AtmaNirbhar Packages accelerated our pace of structural reforms. Redefinition of MSMEs, Commercialisation of the Mineral Sector, Agriculture and Labour Reforms, Privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings, One Nation One Ration Card, and Production Linked Incentive Schemes are some of the notable reforms carried out during this period. Faceless  Income Tax Assessment, DBT and Financial Inclusion are the others.

1. Today, India has two vaccines available, and has begun medically safeguarding not only her own citizens against COVID-19, but also those of 100 or more countries. It is added comfort to know that two or more vaccines are also expected soon.

1. Honourable Prime Minister launched the vaccination drive by crediting and thanking our scientists. We are ever grateful for the strength and rigour of their efforts.
2. Having said that, we are all reminded time and again that our fight against COVID-19 continues into 2021.
3. Now, just as it had happened after the two World Wars, there are signs that the political, economic, and strategic relations in the post COVID world are changing. This moment in history is the dawn of a new era – one in which India is well-poised to truly be the land of promise and hope.

”Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark”.

-Rabindranath Tagore (Fireflies – A Collection of Aphorisms)

1. In this spirit, I can’t help but recall the joy that we, as a cricket-loving nation, felt after Team India’s recent spectacular success in Australia. It has reminded us of all the qualities that we as a people, particularly our youth, epitomise of having abundant promise and the unsuppressed thirst to perform and succeed.
2. Today, data shows that India now has one of the lowest death rate of 112 per million population and one of the lowest active cases of about 130 per million. This has laid the foundation to the revival we are seeing now in the economy.
3. This Budget will be the first of this new decade. This Budget will also be a digital Budget and that has happened with all your support.
4. So far, only three times has a Budget followed a contraction in the economy. All such contractions were as a result of situations typical  to India. This time, the contraction in our economy is due to a global pandemic, just like in several other countries.
5. Having said that, I want to confidently state that our Government is fully prepared to support and facilitate the economy’s reset. This Budget provides every opportunity for our economy to raise and capture the pace that it needs for sustainable growth.

1. 2021 is the year of many important milestones for our history. I mention a few of these: It is the 75^th year of Independence; 60 years of Goa’s accession to India; 50 years of the 1971 India-Pakistan War; it will be

the year of the 8th Census of Independent India; it will also be India’s turn at the BRICS Presidency; the year for our Chandrayaan-3 Mission; and the Haridwar Maha Kumbh.

• Honourable Speaker, before I commence Part A of the Budget, I want to take a moment to acknowledge how isolating and distancing seemed like insurmountable challenges for a country like ours that has people coming together in times of crises. It hurt us in many ways. I bow my head in respect to every citizen, for the endurance shown in facing what was an undeniably a tough year for all our physical and mental well-being.

PART A

• In Part A, I wish to lay a vision for AtmaNirbhar Bharat.

• AtmaNirbharta is not a new idea. Ancient India was largely self- reliant, and equally, a business epicentre of the world.

• AtmaNirbhar Bharat is an expression of 130 crores Indians who have full confidence in their capabilities and skills.

• We are already part of International groupings such as the G20 and BRICS. The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the International Solar alliance are realities today due to India’s efforts.

• The proposals in Part A will further strengthen the sankalp of Nation First, Doubling Farmer’s Income, Strong Infrastructure, Healthy India, Good Governance, Opportunities for Youth, Education for All, Women Empowerment, and Inclusive Development, among others.

• Additionally, also on the path to fast-implementation are the 13 promises we had made in the Budget of 2015-16 which were to materialise during the Amrut Mahotsav of 2022, on the 75^th year of our Independence. They too resonate with this vision of AtmaNirbharta.

• The Budget proposals for 2021-2022 rest on 6 pillars.
  • Health and Wellbeing
  • Physical & Financial Capital, and Infrastructure

1. Inclusive Development for Aspirational India
   1. Reinvigorating Human Capital
   1. Innovation and R&D
   1. Minimum Government and Maximum Governance

1. Health and Wellbeing

• Even at the outset, I would like to say that the investment on Health Infrastructure in this Budget has increased substantially. Progressively, as institutions absorb more, we shall commit more.

• Taking a holistic approach to Health, we focus on strengthening three areas: Preventive, Curative, and Wellbeing.

Health Systems

• A new centrally sponsored scheme, PM AtmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, will be launched with an outlay of about ` 64,180 crores over 6 years. This will develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care Health Systems, strengthen existing national institutions, and create new institutions, to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases. This will be in addition to the National Health Mission. The main interventions under the scheme are:

1. Support for 17,788 rural and 11,024 urban Health and Wellness Centers
   1. Setting up integrated public health labs in all districts and 3382 block public health units in 11 states;
   1. Establishing critical care hospital blocks in 602 districts and 12 central institutions;
   1. Strengthening of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), its 5 regional branches and 20 metropolitan health surveillance units;
   1. Expansion of the Integrated Health Information Portal to all States/UTs to connect all public health labs;
   1. Operationalisation of 17 new Public Health Units and strengthening of 33 existing Public Health Units at Points of Entry, that is at 32 Airports, 11 Seaports and 7 land crossings;
   1. Setting up of 15 Health Emergency Operation Centers and 2 mobile hospitals; and

• Setting up of a national institution for One Health, a Regional Research Platform for WHO South East Asia Region, 9 Bio-Safety Level III laboratories and 4 regional National Institutes for Virology.

Nutrition

• To strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, we will merge the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan and launch the Mission Poshan 2.0. We shall adopt an intensified strategy to improve nutritional outcomes across 112 Aspirational Districts.

Universal Coverage of Water Supply

• The World Health Organisation has repeatedly stressed the importance of clean water, sanitation, and clean environment, as a pre requisite to achieving universal health.

• The Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), will be launched. It aims at universal water supply in all 4,378 Urban Local Bodies with 2.86 crores household tap connections, as well as liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities. It will be implemented over 5 years, with an outlay of `2,87,000 crores.

Swachch Bharat, Swasth Bharat

• For further swachhta of urban India, we intend to focus on complete faecal sludge management and waste water treatment, source segregation of garbage, reduction in single-use plastic, reduction in air pollution by effectively managing waste from construction-and-demolition activities and bio-remediation of all legacy dump sites. The Urban Swachh Bharat Mission

2.0 will be implemented with a total financial allocation of `1,41,678 crores over a period of 5 years from 2021-2026.

Clean Air

• To tackle the burgeoning problem of air pollution, I propose to provide an amount of `2,217 crores for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population in this budget.

Scrapping Policy

• We are separately announcing a voluntary vehicle scrapping policy, to phase out old and unfit vehicles. This will help in encouraging fuel- efficient, environment friendly vehicles, thereby reducing vehicular pollution and oil import bill. Vehicles would undergo fitness tests in automated fitness centres after 20 years in case of personal vehicles, and after 15 years in case of commercial vehicles. Details of the scheme will be separately shared by the Ministry.