PM Narendra Modi on Budget 2016: Villages, farmers main focus, will transform common man’s life

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Underlining the government’s resolve to connect every village in the country by road by the year 2019, the PM said that the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana had been given the biggest monetary allocation till date. He added that the budget also provides a clear provision to provide electricity to all villages by 2018. “This will give new energy to rural economy, new impetus and bring about a big change in the common man’s life,” the PM added.

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Modi also said that every poor man dreams of owning a house and his government will make efforts to strengthen this sector to ensure that the poor people realise their dreams. He added that exemptions have been given to those living in rented accommodations.

Watch: The Big Picture Of Arun Jaitley’s Budget 2016

Stating that “a lot of politics has happened in the name of the poor” in the country, Modi said that an important decision to give free gas connections to crores of people living below the poverty line had been taken. He pointed out that the smoke inhaled by poor women rising out of “chulhas” amounted to inhaling 400 cigarettes a day. “Five crore people who cook on these chulhas will get rid of this smoke,” he said.

The Prime Minister further said that the infrastructure sector had been allocated more than Rs 2 lakh crore. “This will benefit our border areas, where our forces are stationed,” he said. He added that in a bid to increase the employment opportunities for the youth, the government is going to commence two new initiatives — “formalising the informal” and “employing the unemployed”. He added that provisions in taxes had been kept to create a favourable “ecosystem” for Start-ups.

Stating that the country’s tribal now wanted to become an entrepreneur and move from being a job seeker to a job creator, Modi said that the government had decided to set up a special entrepreneur hub.

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Modi also said that his government had always been in favour of trusting the citizens. “We should not be doubting the citizens of the country,” he said, adding that those working in the Income Tax department should have a feeling of respect towards citizens and the common man should get freedom from the complicated processes of the Income Tax department. “We have to free the businessmen and professionals from the troubles they face,” he added.