Finance Minister Presented The General Budget 2021

On 1 February 2021, Finance Minister presented the general budget. This was the third budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Key Highlights of The General Budget 2021-22:

• No ITR for Pensioners: The finance minister has made a big announcement for the taxpayers. According to this announcement, the elderly above the age of 75 years will no longer have to file income tax returns. Such relief will be given to those people, whose only source of earning is a pension.
• Income Tax Returns: Those filing income tax did not get any relief from this budget. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not make any changes in the tax slab this time. In this way, middle-class people have to follow the tax rules as before. People over the age of just 75 are relieved.
• Custom Duty: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an increase in customs duty on mobile devices. She said that the customs duty on mobile devices will now be up to 2.5 per cent. At the same time, custom duty has been reduced on copper and steel. Not only this, but customs duty has also been reduced on gold and silver.
• Tax Reforms: Under Section 80EEA of Income Tax, the exemption will now be applied to the loan taken till March 31, 2022. The Finance Minister said that the government has also taken measures to ease GST.
• Reducing Fiscal Deficit: There will be an effort to keep the fiscal deficit at 6.8%. The Finance Minister said that it is estimated to be 9.5% in 2020-21. The Finance Minister said that an asset restructuring and management company would be set up to deal with the stuck debts of banks. The government proposed to provide capital of INR 20,000 crore to public sector banks.
• First Digital Census: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced to conduct a digital census for the first time in the history of India. Rs 3,760 crore will be spent on this.
• Education: The govt. proposed spending on education next ear has been cut by Rs 6,000 crore. The reduced spending comes in the year when the Ministry Of Education will start implementing the National Education Policy (NEP). Sitharaman announced that about 100 new military schools would be built in the country. A central university has been announced to set up in Leh. Not only this, the Higher Education Commission will be formed soon.
• Ujjwala will Lighten Up more Households: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that one crore more beneficiaries will be added under the scheme Ujjwala to provide free cooking gas cylinders. The government will add 100 more districts to the city’s gas distribution network over the next three years. The gas pipeline project will be started in Jammu and Kashmir.

Every year, with every government, comes its budget which seems to be beneficial for people on the paper only. The most challenging part is implementing it. The general budget is beneficial, if it is implemented properly, we can surely see an Atmanirbhar Bharat in coming times.