CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS RELATED TO BUDGET

LIC in Trouble? According to Article 266 of the Constitution, Parliamentary

approval is required to draw money from the
Consolidated Fund of India.
- By Ankit Agrawal
The term ‘Budget’ is not mentioned in the constitution.

The constitution refer it as ‘Annual Financial Statement’.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PREPARING BUDGET?

Article 112 – 117 in the constitution deals with the

financial matters. The Budget Division of the Department of
Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry
Besides, Article 114 (3) of the Constitution stipulates that
no amount can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund is the nodal body responsible for
without the enactment of a law (i.e. Appropriation bill). preparing the Budget.
•Inclusive development
•Reaching the last mile
•Infra & investment
•Unleashing the potential
•Green growth
•Youth power
•Financial sector
 ECONOMIC GROWTH

This budget hopes to build on the foundation laid in the previous

budget and the blueprint drawn for India at 100.

The current year’s economic growth is estimated to be at 7%.

The economy is on the right track despite challenges and our focus on
wide-ranging reforms helped us perform well in these
trying times, the Finance Minister said.

5 TH LARGEST ECONOMY

The government’s efforts since 2014 have ensured for all citizens,
a better quality of life.

The per capita income has more than doubled to Rs 1.97 lakh.

In the last 9 years, the Indian economy has increased in size from
being 10th to 5th largest in the world.

The world has also recognized India as a bright star, in spite of

massive global slowdown caused by pandemic and the war
 G20 PRESIDENCY TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN SOCIETY

In these times of global challenges, including the war in Our vision for the Amrit Kaal includes technology-driven and
Ukraine, knowledge-based economy, with strong public finances
and a robust financial sector.
India’s G20 presidency gives us a unique opportunity to
strengthen India’s role in the world economic order, says To achieve this 'janbhagidari' through 'sabka saath, sabka
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. prayaas' is essential.

SUPPLY OF FOODGRAINS GREEN GROWTH

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that ‘green growth’

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we ensured that nobody goes to bed would be one of the priorities of the budget.
hungry with a scheme to supply free foodgrains to over
80 crore persons for 28 months. “We are implementing many programmes for green growth across
various economic sectors…
We are implementing a scheme to supply foodgrains from Jan 1, 2023,
to all Antaodaya and priority households for the next They will help reduce carbon intensity and create green jobs,” the FM
1 year and will spend Rs 2 lakh cr. said. The government hints at a more broad based
growth in green energy.
 CLEAN PLANT PROGRAMME

The government will launch the Atmanirbhar Clean Plant

Programme to improve availability of disease-free quality
planting material,

For high-value horticultural crops at an outlay of Rs 2,200

crore

GLOBAL HUB FOR MILETS AGRI TECH STARTUPS

The government announced digital public infrastructure for

agriculture which will enable inclusive farmer-centric services that are
The budget envisages India becoming a global hub for Sri Ann or
relevant for crop protection, in what is a shot in the arm for
Millets.
agritech startups in the country.
India is already the largest producer and second largest exporter of
Agritech startups bucked the funding slowdown of 2022 and raised
millets and the continued focus on domestic production, consumption
large sums from investors but India is yet to get
and export potential will not just earn us greenbacks but
its first agritech unicorn.
also add to India’s soft power.
With the government building digital public infrastructure for
The Indian Institute of Millet Research will be supported as a
agriculture, will agritech startups attract more funding this year
centre of excellence.
and grow faster
 AGRI CREDIT TARGET

The agricultural credit target will be increased to Rs 20 lakh crore with

a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.

The government has also initiated computerisation for 63,000

primary agricultural credit societies with an
investment of Rs 2,516 crore.

NATURAL FARMING PUSH FOR FISHERIES

The government will launch a sub-scheme under PM Matsya Sampada

Over the next 3 years, one crore farmers will get Yojana with an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore to further
assistance to adopt natural farming. enable those involved in fisheries.

She added that the PM Vishwa Karma Kaushal Samman — a package

10,000 bio input resource centres will be set up. of assistance for traditional artisans and craftspeople — has been
conceptualized that will enable them to improve quality, scale and
reach of their products, integrating with MSME value chain.
 HEALTH

•157 new nursing colleges to be established in co-location with existing

157 med colleges established since 2015

•Mission to eliminate sickle cell anemia by 2047

•Facilities in select ICMR labs will be made available for research by

public & pvt medical facilities

•A new programme to promote research & innovation in

pharmaceuticals will be taken up by Centres of Excellence

NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PM PRIMITIVE VULNERABLE TRIBAL GROUPS MISSION

The government proposes to set up a national digital library for

children and adolescents to make up for the learning loss during the
pandemic, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. To improve social-economic condition of the Particularly Tribal
Groups, PMPVTG Development mission will be launched, to
Additionally, to build a culture of reading and to make up for the saturate PVTG habitations with basic facilities.
pandemic-time learning loss, the National Book Trust and the
Children's Book Trust and other sources, Rs 15,000 cr to be made available to implement scheme in next 3 years

Will be encouraged to provide non-curricular titles in regional

languages and in English to these physical libraries.
 EKLAVAYA MODEL SCHOOLS RAILWAYS

In the next three years, Eklavaya Model Residential Schools, Capital outlay of ₹2.40 lakh crore.
the Centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for
740 schools serving 3.5 lakh tribal students, announced
FM Nirmala Sitharaman This is 9 times the outlay made in 2013

EASE OF DOING BUSINESS LAB GROWN DIAMONDS

To encourage production and sales of lab grown diamonds (lab grown

diamonds are artificially produced but have similar properties as
For enhancing ease of doing business, more than 39,000 compliances natural diamonds and are cost effective).
have been reduced, over 3,400 legal provisions decriminalised.
Government will provide R&D grant in lab grown diamond area as
For the business establishments required to have a permanent account well as consider custom duty reduction on key raw
number, the PAN will be used as a common identifier for all digital material (lab grown seeds).
systems of specified government agencies.
Lab grown diamonds have huge potential in both domestic and
export markets.
 GREEN HYDROGEN MISSION TRANSPORT INFRA PROJECTS

The recently launched national green hydrogen with an outlay of Rs

19,700 crore will facilitate the transition of the economy to low carbon
50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes, and
intensity and reduce dependency on fossil fuel imports. advanced landing zones to be revitalised.

Our target is to reach an annual production of 5 MMT by 2030. 100 critical transport infra projects for steel, ports,
fertiliser, coal, foodgrain sectors have been identified with
This budget provides for Rs 35,000 crore capital investment towards an investment of Rs75,000 crore including
energy transition and net zero objective and energy security
Rs 15,000 crore from private sources.
by the Ministry of petroleum and natural gas.

PRADHAN MANTRI KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA 4.0 PUSH FOR TOURISM

The government will launch Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas

Yojana 4.0, said FM Nirmala Sitharaman. 50 tourist destinations will be selected through
challenge mode to be developed as a whole package
In order to skill the youth for international opportunities, 30
for domestic and international tourism
Skill India International Centres will be set up across
different States
 REVAMPED CREDIT GUARANTEE SCHEME FOR MSMES CBG MANDATE

The government plans to introduce a 5% compressed biogas mandate

Revamped Credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs will take effect from for all entities marketing natural gas in India.
1 April 2023 with infusion of Rs 9000 crore into the corpus.
This may mean that companies marketing natural gas in India will
This will enable additional collateral free credit guarantee of Rs 2 lakh have to market compressed biogas, or CBG, to the extent
crore rupees, which will enable to lower cost of credit by 1%. of 5 per cent of their volumes.

Good news for MSMEs that are still recovering from the impact of The government has been pushing for increased production of CBG
pandemic. and its blending with natural gas, particularly in the transportation
segment that uses compressed natural gas, or CNG, as a fuel.

NATIONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION REGISTRY 100 LABS FOR DEVELOPING APPS

100 labs for developing apps using 5G services will be set up in

The government will set up a National Financial engineering institutions.
Information Registry to serve as a central repository
To realise new range of opportunities, business models & employment
of financial and ancillary information potential, labs will cover among others, apps like Smart Classrooms,
Precision Farming, Intelligent Transports Systems & Healthcare
 BIG JUMP IN CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

At Rs 10 lakh crore, the Centre’s capex target for 2023-

24 is 33 percent higher than the budget estimate
of Rs 7.5 lakh crore for 2022-23.
 FISCAL DEFICIT

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman fixes fiscal

deficit for 2023-24 at 5.9 per cent.

PERSONAL INCOME TAX

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces

Income Tax rebate limit increase to
Rs 7 lakh from Rs 5 lakh
 WHAT ABOUT BANK PRIVATISATION?

FM Nirmala Sitharaman has not touched up on any key banking sector

reforms including the long held promise of privatization
of public sector banks.

To be sure, this is no surprise. Ahead of the 2024 general elections and

considering the politically sensitive nature of the move, the
Government was expected to keep mum on the
bank privatisation issue.

However, one must remember that privatisation of at least two PSBs

was a key announcement in Sitharaman’s last budget.
Q. Which of the following is related to Operation
Green’ mission?

A) Production of tomato, onion and potatoes

B) Production of tomato, chilli and potatoes

C) Production of pulses, onion and potatoes

D) Production of tomato, pulses and rice