The following are the highlights of the budget presented in the Lok Sabha Thursday by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley:
-Negative list for service tax reduced
- Excise duty on cigarettes raised from 11 percent to 72 percent
- Thirteen more airports to get 24x7 customs facilities
-Excise duty to be cut to revive manufacturing
- Allocation of Rs.500 crore for Delhi's water schemes
- Colour TVs to cost less on reduced customs duties
- Free baggage allowance raised from Rs.35,000 to Rs.45,000
-Gas pipeline grid of 15,000 km needs to be doubled
-Revenue loss of Rs.22,000 crore due to direct tax proposals
-Excise duty on footwear halved
- Total expenditure in 2014-15 estimated at Rs.17,97,892 crore; plan expenditure estimated at Rs.12,19,892 crore
-Government to take a view on Direct Tax Code
- Six debt recovery tribunals to be set up
-Five new tourist circuits to be established
-World class convention centre to come up in Goa
-IT exemption limit for those below 60 raised from Rs.2 lakhs to Rs.2.5 lakhs; from Rs.2.5 lakhs to Rs.3 lakhs for senior citizens
- No change in surcharge for corporates; education cess to continue
- Allocation of Rs.1,000 crore for implementing One Rank One Pension scheme
- War Memorial and War Museum to be established at Princess Park in New Delhi; Rs.1,000 crore allocated
- Allocation of Rs.50 crore for National Police Memorial
- Allocation of Rs.2.037 crore for creating integrated Ganga conservation mission
- National sports foundations to be set up for disciplines like shooting, wrestling and boxing; Jammu and Kashmir gets Rs.200 crore to upgrade sports facilities; Sports university to come up in Manipur
-Defence allocated Rs.229,000 crore; modernisation gets Rs.5,000 crore over and above interim budget
- Bharat Depository Receipt to be created
- Uniform KYC norms to be introduced across entire financial sector
- Steps to revive SEZs
-Sixteen new port projects to be taken up this fiscal
-Jal Marg Vikas programme to be launched to promote navigation on Ganga from Allahabad to Haldia
- Hastkala Academy to be set up with allocation of Rs.30 crore
-Six more textile clusters to be set up with allocation of Rs.200 crore
-Corpus of Rs.5,000 crore for long-term loans to farmers
-Kisan TV to be launched to disseminate information in real time
-Allocation of Rs.14,389 crore for rural roads
- Allocation of Rs.50 crore for breeding of indigenous cattle
- Export promotion mission to be established to bring all stakeholders under one umbrella
-Lok Sabha takes five-minute break during finance minister's speech. Jaitley permitted to sit and read out on resumption
-FDI limit in insurance sector raised to 49 percent
-All states to get AIIMS like institutions
- Allocation of Rs.100 crore for soil testing facilities
-Second Green Revolution to be launched with focus on protein revolution
-Allocation of Rs.100 crore to promote good governance
-Allocation of Rs.3,600 crore for drinking water schemes
-Allocation of Rs.500 crore for 5 more IITs and 5 more IIMs
- Allocation of Rs.4,000 crore for National Housing Bank
-Allocation of Rs.500 crore to improve broadband connectivity in rural areas
- To print currency notes with Braille signs
- Allocation of Rs.150 crore to improve safety of women in larger cities
- Allocation of Rs.500 crore to provide 24x7 power in rural areas
-Allocation of Rs.100 crore for "Beti bachao, beti padao" programme
- Allocation of Rs.8,000 crore to improve rural housing
- E-visas to be introduced at nine airports
-New scheme to provide assured irrigation
-Total sanitation in every household by 2019
- Shares of PSU banks to be sold to retail investors
- Aiming at fiscal deficit of 3 percent by 2015-16 and 2 percent by 2016-17
- FDI in defence sector raised to 49 percent from 26 percent
- CBDT to scrutinize all cases under 2012 law on retrospective tax cases
- Problem of black money to be fully addressed
- Expenditure Management Commission to be established this fiscal
- Slow decision-making has resulted in lost opportunities
- Green shoots of recovery in world economy
- Budget will lay down steps aimed at 7-8 percent growth in next few years
- The aim is "Sub ke saath, sub ka vikas" (With everyone, For everyone's development)
- Should we be victims of populism?
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