Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Addressing the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, the President Pranab Mukherjee listed out achievements of the Modi government.
Here are the key highlights of President Pranab Mukherjee's address:
1. My government is pledged to making this goal possible through financial inclusion and social security, the two wings on which human aspiration takes flight. To this end, my government has placed great emphasis on food security, Housing for All and subsidies that reach those who need them the most, when they need them the most.
2. Touniversalise social security, my government has launched three new insurance and pension schemes; namely, the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha BimaYojana, the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and the Atal Pension Yojana, which afford insurance cover to hitherto uncovered sections of society.
3. Government is committed to provide Housing for All by 2022. The Pradhan MantriAwasYojana, launched on June 25, 2015, envisages construction of about 2 crore houses to benefit primarily slum dwellers, urban poor and people from economically weaker sections and lower income groups of society. The Mission intends to cover all 4041 statutory towns in coming 5 years. In its first year alone, 2011 towns/cities in 27 states have been included under this Mission. A total of over four lakh twenty five thousand houses have been sanctioned with a project cost of over rupees twenty four thousand six hundred crore.
4. Targeted subsidies ensure that benefits reach the deserving. Direct Benefit Transfer has so far been extended to 42 schemes funded by my government. PAHAL has become the largest direct cash transfer program of its kind in the world, with nearly 15 crore beneficiaries. Since June 2014, the food security coverage has more than doubled to cover over 68 crore persons.
5. The Give-It-Up campaign in tandem with the Give Back programme has released subsidized fresh connections to 50 lakh BPL families. More than 62 lakh LPG consumers have voluntarily surrendered their LPG subsidy under the campaign. The highest number of new cooking gas connections to the rural poor were distributed in 2015.
6, Youth are the future of our country and ensuring Yuvaonko Rojgaar through massive employment generation is a top goal for my government. We are driving job creation through an integrated set of initiatives including Make in India, Start up India, Mudra, Skill India, etc.
7. My government’s innovative initiatives have helped India jump up 12 places in the latest rankings by the World Bank on Ease of Doing Business. Notably, the Make in India initiative has achieved a 39 percent increase in FDI inflow despite an adverse global investment climate.
8. My government has fostered competitive cooperation among various States to enhance ease of doing business. State governments are being encouraged and supported to simplify procedures, introduce e-enabled processes and invest in infrastructure to improve investment climate. Procedures have been simplified to enhance ease of approvals/clearances.
9. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises provide large-scale employment. Banks have cumulatively disbursed over rupees one lakh crore to more than 2.6 crore borrowers under the PM’s MudraYojana, of which 2.07 crore are women entrepreneurs. Udyog Aadhar Portal has been set up to facilitate online registration of MSMEs. My government has decided to set up rural livelihood and technology business incubators to boost entrepreneurship in the agriculture and rural sector. The Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme is a new vertical to strengthen the livelihoods of artisans and weavers. In its first phase, about 1.82 lakh village enterprises will be created and strengthened in 125 Blocks across 24 States creating employment for about 3.78 lakh persons.
10. A series of reforms have been initiated to help convert job seekers into job creators. My government has launched the Start-Up India campaign which would deepen, expand and support the innovation eco system in the country.
11. Robust infrastructure development unlocks opportunities for all. My government has initiated the Smart Cities programme, envisaging city development in a challenge mode. In the first phase of the Smart City program, twenty cities have been selected after intense competition among ninety eight cities. Second and third phases of the programme are on the anvil.
12. My government has introduced dynamic and comprehensive reforms in the coal sector and conducted transparent auction/ allocation of over 70 coal blocks. These will immensely benefit the eastern States in the years to come. Strong emphasis on increasing coal production has resulted in a record 9.8% growth in CIL's coal production and highest ever output of coal. This has also led to reduced imports of coal.
13. Setting up world-class infrastructure for electronics manufacturing across the country remains a priority for my government. Twenty nine electronic manufacturing clusters are under development. The recent interventions and subsequent rationalization of duty structure in mobile handset manufacturing industry has led to near doubling of mobile handset production in the current year. Transparent and efficient auction of spectrum has fetched highest ever price of about rupees one lakh ten thousand crore. Policies like Spectrum trading and sharing have been finalized for optimum utilization of resources.
14. India is a haven of stability in an increasingly turbulent global economy. GDP growth has increased making India the world’s fastest growing economy among large economies. Inflation, fiscal deficit and current account deficit have all decreased. India recorded the highest ever foreign exchange reserves in 2015.
15. The Indradhanush programme has been launched to revitalize public sector banks and ensure credit flow in the economy, with committed minimum recapitalization of Rupees seventy thousand crore. In addition, we have undertaken major governance reforms, brought in private sector talent and moved to a fully transparent and meritocratic recruiting process. We have also issued 23 banking licenses after a long hiatus of ten years.
16. The Government's concerted efforts to tackle the menace of black money have started yielding results. With the enactment of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, a stringent legislative framework has been put in place to combat the menace.
17. The government has launched the Gold Monetization Scheme and Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme in November 2015 to ensure productive utilization of idle assets.
18. The government has taken a number of measures to put in place a simplified, progressive and non-adversarial tax regime by incorporating internationally prevalent best practices in tax administration. A gamut of taxpayer facilities, viz., e-filing of returns and various forms, electronic processing and retrieval of documents and online grievance redressal are now available to the citizen.
19. "Kisaano ki Samriddhi”, the well-being of farmers is vital to the nation's prosperity. Acknowledging this fundamental reality, my Government has renamed the 'Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation' as the ‘Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare’ and taken several measures for the same. My Government has recently launched the farmer-friendly PradhanMantri Fasal Bima Yojana, with the biggest-ever government's contribution to crop insurance and with lowest-ever premium rates for farmers. It has many firsts to its credit like national coverage of post-harvest losses due to inundation and unseasonal rains, no capping on government subsidy, and use of technology for early and accurate settlement of claims. Assistance to farmers afflicted by natural calamity has been increased by 50% and eligibility norms have been relaxed.
20. Rural development is one of our top priorities. The grant of over rupees two lakh crores by the 14th Finance Commission over a five year period from 2015-16, exclusively for Gram Panchayats has been received with great enthusiasm by the States. This will move development activity closer to the people and enable them to decide how they want to improve their villages and wards. Shyama Prasad MukherjiRurban Mission has also been launched for 300 rural growth clusters for developing skills & local entrepreneurship and providing infrastructure amenities.
