Budget 2024 / Those special schemes which were announced in the budget, what is their condition now - know

Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to give her budget speech for the sixth consecutive year on 1 February. However, this budget will be only interim, so there is no possibility of any important announcements in it. The entire budget for the upcoming financial year will be presented by the next government formed after the Lok Sabha elections. From “Acche Din” of 2014 to “New India 2022” – the Modi government is known for coining phrases for its various schemes. The opposition has outright rejected some major budget announcements, terming them as 'Modi's catchphrases'. Let us talk about some popular budgetary announcements made by the Modi government and try to understand how on track are all those schemes?

Kisan Rail

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget 2020-21 speech, had proposed to set up 'Kisan Rail' through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode under cold supply chain for transportation of perishable goods. The government had also constituted a committee for this under the Ministry of Agriculture. In which representatives of Indian Railways were also included to work on the modalities of 'Kisan Rail'. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, while answering a question in the Lok Sabha, said that Kisan Rail has transported 7.9 lakh tonnes of perishable goods between August 7, 2020 and January 31, 2023.

The minister further said that possible circuits for movement of Kisan Rail have been identified in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and various departments of the state governments. He had informed that agencies like local bodies and mandis were also included in providing rakes on priority basis for running Kisan Rail.

TB will lose, the country will win

In her second Budget 2020-21 speech, Sitharaman launched the 'TB Harega, Desh Jeetega' campaign to eliminate TB by 2025. The special thing is that a target has been set to eliminate this disease globally by the year 2030. At the same time, the Government of India had set a target of ending it 5 years earlier than their target. Meanwhile, the Covid pandemic created many obstacles.

WHO said in a statement that global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 66 million lives since 2000. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress in the fight to end TB. For the first time in more than a decade, TB deaths have increased in 2020.

India has made good progress on this front, and its efforts have been acknowledged by WHO in its Global TB Report 2023. The report said that treatment coverage of estimated TB cases has improved to 80 percent, which is an increase of 19 percent compared to the previous year.

Due to India's efforts, TB cases have declined by 16 percent in 2022 compared to 2015, which is almost twice the speed of decline in global TB cases (which is 8.7 percent). According to the report, TB cases at the global level There has also been an increase in the death rate, but in India it has decreased by 18 percent during the same period.

According to the report, due to India's intensified case detection strategy, the maximum number of such cases have been notified in the year 2022. During this period, more than 24.22 lakh TB cases were notified, which even crossed the pre-Covid level.

National Technical Textile Mission

The National Technical Textile Mission was announced in the Union Budget 2020-21 with an outlay of Rs 1,480 crore, aimed at establishing India as a global leader in technical textiles. Research, innovation and development, marketing and market development, export promotion and education, training and skill development are the pillars of the mission. Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary, Textile Ministry, had said in November last year that the technical textile market in India is expected to reach $40 billion by 2030. Saxena had further said that India is aiming to increase its share in the export of technical textile products from the current $2.5 billion to $10 billion in the next seven years. Therefore, the National Technical Textile Mission has been extended till 2026.

‘Dispute to Trust’ scheme

The aim of the Vivad Se Vishwas scheme is to reduce litigation in direct tax payments. Announcing this scheme in her Union Budget 2020-21 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that taxpayers whose cases are pending at any level can benefit from this scheme. He had said that taxpayers will have to pay only the amount of disputed tax. He will get complete exemption from interest and penalty, provided he makes the payment by March 31, 2020. He said that I hope that taxpayers will use this opportunity to get relief from the painful litigation process.

Vivad se Vishwas scheme has helped the government to settle rising tax disputes and collect around Rs 54,000 crore. It was so successful that the government launched the “Vivad se Vishwas 2” scheme last year to provide resolution in cases of contractual disputes involving the government and public sector undertakings.

The Finance Ministry said that under its new version, the government settled cases worth Rs 2,302 crore in 2023. The Center received more than 900 claims of contractual dispute worth Rs 20,000 crore. Out of which a claim of Rs 1,652 crore was also settled. For contractual disputes during the Covid period, the Center settled claims of over Rs 650 crore by MSMEs. The ministry said that till December 1, 2023, 43,904 claims worth more than Rs 650 crore by MSMEs had been settled by the government.

Prime Minister Self-reliant Healthy India Scheme

In her budget speech for FY 2021-22, Sitharaman had announced the ‘Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana’ (PMASBY) scheme with a budget of about Rs 64,180 crore over six years (till FY 25-26). This scheme is separate from the National Health Mission. PMASBY aims to bridge the gap in public health infrastructure, especially critical care facilities and primary care in both urban and rural areas.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that 1.5 lakh health and welfare centers were being set up across the country. He had said that these centers have provided the facility of testing for conditions like diabetes, heart disease and cancer near people's homes. PMASBY also aims to build an IT-based disease surveillance system by developing a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional and national levels in metropolitan areas.

Jal Jeevan Mission Urban

During his budget speech in 2021-22, the Finance Minister had announced Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban). Due to which, it was said that water will be supplied to the homes of people living in 4,378 cities of the country. Sitharaman had announced a budget of Rs 2.87 lakh crore for Jal Jeevan Mission Urban in her budget speech. The scheme has been implemented across the country and various MoUs have been signed between the Centre, states and urban local bodies.

Work is also underway to promote the circular economy of water through the development of urban water balance plans for each city. As far as the overall progress of this ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission is concerned, according to official data, about 72 percent of rural households now have access to tap water connections. By 2024, the Jal Shakti Ministry has been targeted to achieve 100 per cent coverage of tap water connection in every rural household, a commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.

Vehicle Scrapping Policy

In the Union Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a vehicle scrapping policy for private and commercial vehicles. The main objective of this policy was to promote eco-friendly and fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce air pollution and oil import bills. Under the policy the vehicle will have to undergo a fitness test. Private vehicles older than 20 years and commercial vehicles older than 15 years must definitely undergo fitness testing. Which automated fitness centers are to be conducted.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Parliament that a total of 11,025 vehicles (7,750 private and 3,275 government vehicles) have been scrapped by registered vehicle scrapping facilities till March 31, 2023. He further said that 24 states and union territories have already reported 2,56,935 government-owned vehicles older than 15 years. He said that the Central Government is giving incentives to the state governments for the execution of the vehicle scrapping policy.

One Station One Product

The Center launched its ambitious ‘One Station One Product’ scheme in the Union Budget 2022-23. This is an extension of the government's 'One District One Product' programme, and a pilot project was launched on March 25, 2022 in each railway zone. The objective of this scheme is to provide market for indigenous products and generate additional income opportunities for the marginalized sections of the society. According to government data, as of November 30, 2023, 1189 OSOP outlets were operational at 1083 stations. These OSOP outlets have been allotted to local beneficiaries.