Synopsis
The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s first post-Covid budget had several measures to bring the unorganised working class into the mainstream economic fold.
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The FM, while observing that the country’s Social Security Code 2020 has made provision for universalisation of social security for the entire workforce.
Thanks to the pandemic, the Union Budget 2021-22 not only recognized the vulnerabilities typical of the country’s migrant, gig and platform workers but has also offered some solutions. In her first post-Covid budget speech, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that for the first time globally, social security benefits will extend to gig and platform workers. The FM also announced various other measures to help the migrant workers in the country.
Budget 2021: Reactions from the social sector
On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented India’s first-ever paperless Budget. A lot of reforms were announced on migrant labour, renewable energy, and women and child welfare. Experts from the social sector weigh in.
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The
Union Budget 2021-22 was a first-of-its-kind on many fronts. In addition to being the first paperless Budget, it was also the first since the pandemic forced the country into months of lockdown, which impacted not only the economy, but also the livelihoods of Indians, particularly in lower-income sections. So, it came as no surprise that there were a number of welfare schemes announced. We asked a few experts what they thought of
The Indian textiles and clothing industry has broadly welcomed the
Union Budget 2021-22 presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on February 1. Setting up of 7 mega textiles parks under MITRA, and reducing duty on nylon raw materials are welcomed by all trade bodies, while there is a mixed reaction to 10 per cent import duty on cotton.
The grant to the
textiles and clothing sector in Union Budget 2021-22 is ₹3,614.64 crore, which is about 10 per cent higher than the revised budget of ₹3,300 crore in 2020-21. The budget also puts emphasis on Infrastructure Development and Research & Capacity Building as the grant for these sectors has been increased by about 43.7 per cent and 77.5 per cent respectively as compared to last year. Share of these sectors in total textile and apparel budget allocation for 2021-22 stands at about 6 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
The Assam election tone was clearly visible in finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech when she proposed an outlay of over Rs 34,000 crore for 1300 km of national highways in the state over the next three years.
GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Union Budget for 2021-22 will help in tapping Assam’s unexplored potential even as the opposition in the state described the budget as not being pro-poor and another political “jhumla” on expected lines ahead of the assembly election.
The Assam election tone was clearly visible in finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech when she proposed an outlay of over Rs 34,000 crore for 1300 km of national highways in the state over the next three years. Sitharaman’s speech was certainly aimed at reaching out to tea garden workers of the state who form the biggest vote block after caste Assamese and Muslim groups. Apart from a special allocation for yet-to-be-announced special scheme for welfare of wom