Indian economy on course to retain growth momentum: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Nirmala Sitharaman Full Speech: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday presented the interim budget 2024-25 in the Parliament.
Here is the full text of Nirmala Sitharaman's speech:
Hon’ble Speaker,
I present the Interim Budget for 2024-25.
The Indian economy has witnessed a profound positive transformation in the last ten years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism.
With the blessings of the people, when our Government under the visionary and dynamic leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, the country was facing enormous challenges. With ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as its ‘mantra’, the Government overcame those challenges in right earnest. Structural reforms were undertaken. Pro-people programmes were formulated and implemented promptly. Conditions were created for more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. The economy got a new vigour. The fruits of development started reaching the people at scale. The country got a new sense of purpose and hope. Naturally, the people blessed the Government with a bigger mandate.
Our humane and inclusive approach to development is a marked and deliberate departure from the earlier approach of ‘provisioning up-to-village level’. Development programmes, in the last ten years, have targeted each and every household and individual, through ‘housing for all’, ‘har ghar jal’, electricity for all, cooking gas for all, bank accounts and financial services for all, in record time.
The worries about food have been eliminated through free ration for 80 crore people. Minimum support prices for the produce of ‘Annadata’ are periodically increased appropriately. These and the provision of basic necessities have enhanced real income in the rural areas. Their economic needs could be addressed, thus spurring growth and generating jobs.
Social Justice
Our Government is working with an approach to development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive (सर्वांगीण, सर्वस्पर्शी और सर्वसमावेशी). It covers all castes and people at all levels. We are working to make India a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. For achieving that goal, we need to improve people’s capability and empower them.
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Garib Kalyan, Desh ka Kalyan
We believe in empowering the poor. The earlier approach of tackling poverty through entitlements had resulted in very modest outcomes. When the poor become empowered partners in the development process, government’s power to assist them also increases manifold. With the pursuit of ‘Sabka ka Saath’ in these 10 years, the Government has assisted 25 crore people to get freedom from multi-dimensional poverty. Our Government’s efforts are now getting synergized with energy and passion of such empowered people. This is truly elevating them from poverty.
‘Direct Benefit Transfer’ of ₹34 lakh crore from the Government using PM-Jan Dhan accounts has led to savings of ₹2.7 lakh crore for the Government. This has been realized through avoidance of leakages prevalent earlier. The savings have helped in providing more funds for ‘Garib Kalyan’.