downloaded from : www.visionias.net downloaded from : https://t.me/Material_For_Exam follow us: friday, february 2, 2018 Delhi City Edition thehindu.com 36 pages ț 10.00 facebook.com/thehindu twitter.com/the_hindu Printed at . Chennai . Coimbatore . Bengaluru . Hyderabad . Madurai . Noida . Visakhapatnam . Thiruvananthapuram . Kochi . Vijayawada . Mangaluru . Tiruchirapalli . Kolkata . Hubballi . Mohali . Malappuram . Mumbai . Tirupati . lucknow In a pre­election Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley serves up a mix of populism and prudence FARMER SUTRA Special Correspondent <> The focus of the litre has been levied to fund NEW DELHI Budget is farmers, projects. Unlike excise du­ With a clear eye on the Lok rural India, ties, the Centre is not re­ Sabha election, Union Fi­ healthcare and quired to share cess receipts nance Minister Arun Jaitley with the States. education pulled out all the stops in The government’s inabili­ Arun Jaitley the Narendra Modi govern­ Finance Minister ty to give away too many ment’s last full Budget to goodies were largely due to promise a better deal for show that individual busi­ its scal constraints, with farmers, boost the rural nesspersons paid less aver­ this year’s scal decit over­ economy and make the age tax than the salaried shooting the 3.2% of GDP poor less vulnerable to class, he reintroduced a at target and likely to touch health exigencies. 40,000 deduction from 3.5% on account of the GST­ Responding to the dis­ taxable income for the latter related issues. Instead of a tress in the agriculture in lieu of the existing tax ex­ 3% decit in the coming sector that has reared its emptions for transport and year, the Centre settled to head in various States medical allowance and ex­ target the 3.3% mark, defer­ over the past year, the tended this relief to pen­ ring the glide path to 3% to government has decid­ sioners. 2020­21. ed to oer a minimum But any gain in take­ Mr. Jaitley said the focus support price (MSP) of at home salaries has been vir­ of the Budget — farmers, ru­ ILLUSTRATION: DEEPAK HARICHANDAN least 1.5 times the expenses tually oset by raising the ral India, healthcare and borne by farmers for all 3% education cess levied on education for the poor — re­ The Rashtriya Swasthya crops. personal income tax and ected the Modi govern­ Bima Yojana (RSBY) now Equity markets were corporate tax. Now, a 4% ment’s emphasis on improv­ gives poor families an an­ briey spooked following education and healthcare ing the ease of living for the nual coverage of 30,000, the move to reintroduce a cess will apply. common man. while several State govern­ tax on long­term capital Hopes of a respite for Comparisons with ments have implemented gains on equity shares at the consumers on the indirect UPA­1’s last Budget, with its their own health insurance rate of 10% for all gains over tax front was also extin­ farm loan waiver and the schemes with varying cov­ 1 lakh. No indexation bene­ guished in this Budget, with NREGA expansion, would A helping hand in erage levels. t will be granted and the the Centre hiking customs be simplistic. “My government has securities transaction tax duties on a range of pro­ This one is ac­ now decided to take health will continue. ducts, including mobile tually similar to times of health crises protection to a more aspira­ The BSE Sensex, which phones, wearable devices, the Budget un­ tional level,” Mr. Jaitley opened at 36,048.99, television display panels, veiled by Jas­ said. slipped to 35,501 during Mr. furniture, diamonds, foot­ want Singh in Budget proposes protection scheme “We have provided Jaitley’s speech before reco­ wear, cosmetics and dental 2003­04, #4 9 2 3 5 3 to cover 10 crore poor households 2,000 crore for the next ­ vering to close at 35,906 oss. which talked nancial year under this points. The idea is to push global of improving Special Correspondent age of up to 5 lakh per fa­ scheme,” Expenditure Se­ Notably, the middle­class producers to start making the ‘lifetime NEW DELHI mily annually to take care cretary Ajay Narayan Jha constituency that played a these goods in India, but till concerns’ Finance Minister Arun Jait­ of secondary and tertiary said at a press conference key part in the BJP’s success­ that happens, consumers of citizens, ley on Thursday unveiled care hospitalisation costs. after the Budget. ful 2014 campaign was lar­ will need to foot higher announced an ambitious plan to Mr. Jaitley reckoned that “Once the contours take gely left high and dry. Des­ costs. a new launch “the world’s largest this will benet around 50 shape, the details will be pite some token measures, A much­anticipated ra­ health in­ government­funded health crore people from poor worked out,” Mr. Jha said. such as footing part of the tionalisation of the high ex­ surance care programme” that will and vulnerable families. “The present RSBY scheme bill for new employees’ pro­ cise duties on petrol and scheme benet 10 crore house­ The Budget for 2016­17 had will be modied for this,” vident fund (PF) contribu­ diesel was carried out with a and fo­ holds. a similar announcement of­ he said. tions for three years, Mr. 8 reduction in these duties, cussed on hous­ The proposed National fering a 1 lakh cover for 8 Jaitley oered little respite but consumers will get no ing, education Health Protection Scheme crore families, but that’s AYUSHMAN BHARAT: THE BIG to the salaried class. relief as a new road and in­ and employ­ (NHPS) will provide cover­ yet to take o. BUDGET SCHEME Ī PAGE 7 Citing income tax data to frastructure cess of 8 per ment too. ‘Old is Gold’ in young India Deduction for health insurance premium raised from 30,000 to 50,000 Special Correspondent stressed, before laying out from 30,000 to 50,000. NEW DELH a series of steps to give Deductions for medical ex­ The salaried class may feel them a ‘dignied life.’ penditure on certain criti­ hard done by and the Top government sourc­ cal illnesses have been young may not see a swift es said the specic mea­ hiked to 1 lakh for all se­ surge in employment op­ sures outlined to alleviate nior citizens, up from the portunities as a result of the lot of senior citizens prevailing levels of the Budget proposals. Ho­ were based on the feed­ 60,000 for senior citizens wever, the Modi govern­ back from retired persons and 80,000 for very se­ ment, which will face elec­ on the crisis they faced in nior citizens. tions next year, has made recent months owing to While these concessions sure it will have the bless­ the dipping interest rates The cash ows of senior are worth 4,000 crore, ings of elders. on savings instruments, in­ citizens depend heavily the government also ex­ “A life with dignity is a cluding on small savings on interest income. tended the Pradhan Mantri right of every individual, in schemes. Vaya Vandana Yojana up to general, more so for the se­ Mr. Jaitley made an ef­ oce deposits has been March 2020, which as­ nior citizens,” Finance Mi­ fort to ease the cash ows raised from 10,000 to sures an 8% return, and nister Arun Jaitley said in of senior citizens that are 50,000 a year. raised the investment cap his Budget speech. largely dependent on in­ The deduction available from 7.5 lakh to 15 lakh. “To take care of those terest income. The exemp­ for health insurance pre­ who cared for us is one of tion limit on interest in­ mium and medical expen­ GOVT. READS GROUND SIGNALS the highest honours,” he come on bank and post diture has been raised FROM GUJARAT Ī PAGE 18 Congress sweeps by­elections in Rajasthan CJI brings out roster to Massive margins a jolt for BJP; Trinamool Congress bags Uluberia, Noapara seats allot cases Special Correspondent With Rajasthan due to Proud of each and every one workers burst recrackers Krishnadas Rajagopal JAIPUR/KOLKATA hold Assembly elections in a of you. This is a rejection of and distributed sweets out­ NEW DELHI In a setback to the NDA, the few months, a resurgent the BJP by the people of Ra­ side the Pradesh Congress After an unprecedented Congress registered an im­ Congress will pose a serious jasthan,” he tweeted. Committee headquarters in press conference by four pressive victory in the three challenge to the BJP. The par­ In Alwar, Karan Singh Ya­ Jaipur as the trends became senior­most Supreme by­elections in Rajasthan, ty’s victory in the byelec­ dav of the Congress defeated clear. Court judges on January 12 while the Trinamool Con­ tions, being touted as the the BJP’s Jaswant Yadav by a State Congress president over “selective” allocation gress made a clean sweep in “semi­nals,” is being inter­ margin of 1,96,496 votes, Sachin Pilot, who stayed in of cases and amid subse­ West Bengal. preted as a “people’s ver­ while Congress candidate Ajmer and criss­crossed the quent parleys to resolve The Congress wrested two dict” against the Vasundhara Raghu Sharma defeated his three constituencies during the rift, Chief Justice of In­ Lok Sabha seats — Alwar and Raje government’s “failure BJP rival Ramswarup Lamba electioneering, was carried dia Dipak Misra on Thurs­ Ajmer — and one Assembly and arrogance.” in Ajmer by 84,414 votes. inside the building on the day published a subject­ seat, Mandalgarh, from the Congress president Rahul In the Mandalgarh As­ shoulders of jubilant party wise roster for allocation of ruling BJP in the western Gandhi hailed the party’s im­ sembly constituency, the workers.