Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2022 speech today announced a host of measures aimed at social welfare. The finance minister started her speech by saying, “I want to express my empathy for those who bore the health and economic brunt of the pandemic.”The FM said the government will allocate Rs 48,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and will build 80 lakh homes for identified eligible beneficiaries, and identify eligible beneficiaries for 60,000 houses under PMAY in rural and urban areas. Sitharaman further said Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated to provide tapwater for 3.83 crore households.
The finance minister recognised that mental health issues have become a real issue for many–especially the youth–because of the pandemic and announced the National Mental Health Programme–a network of 23 mental health centres of excellence with IIT providing tech support.
Further, Sitharaman noted how sparely populated border villages tend to be left out of social benefit schemes and announced a “Vibrant Villages” programme to include them in the country’s development journey. She said the scheme will get access to facilities like housing, construction, direct-to-home access for Doordarshan, support for livelihood generation, etc.”
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The FM also announced development initiatives for the Northeast region. She said the PM development initiatives for Northeast will be implemented for the North Eastern Council. “This will enable livelihood activities for youth and women… This scheme is not a substitute for the existing Centre or state schemes,” the finance minister said.
“Nari shakti is the harbinger of our bright future. For women-led development, our government has comprehensively revamped schemes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development such as Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 to provide benefits,” said FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech.
For women-led development, our government has launched: 1. Mission Shaki 2. Mission Vatsalya 3. Poshan 2.0 FM @nsitharaman #AatmaNirbharBharatKaBudget— DD News (@DDNewslive) February 1, 2022
According to the Economic Survey 2021-22 presented in the parliament on Monday, the government had increased its social services expenditure to 8.6 percent of the GDP in 2021-22, as compared to 6.2 percent in 2014-15. For context, the government spent 8.3 percent of the GDP in 2020-21, and 6.7 percent the year before that.
