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Silver and silver jewellery will become expensive as the government on Wednesday announced increasing the basic customs duty on silver, both in dore and semi-manufactured form, to 10% in order to curb imports.

Currently, the basic customs duty on silver dore is 6.1%, while on silver unwrought or semi-manufactured items it is 7.5%.

In her Budget speech for the 2023-24 fiscal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said customs duties on dore and bars of gold and platinum were increased earlier this fiscal.

“I now propose to increase the duties on articles made therefrom to enhance the duty differential. I also propose to increase the import duty on silver dore, bars and articles to align them with that on gold and platinum,” she said.

The basic customs duty on both silver dore and semi-manufactured items will be increased to 10%, as per the Budget document.

To encourage lab-grown diamonds, the government has scrapped the basic customs duty from the current 5%.

Commenting on the announcement, Founder and Managing Director of Kama Jewelry Colin Shah said that the hike in basic customs duty on articles made from gold bars and import duty on silver will lead to a rise in the final price of locally made jewellery and maybe challenging for local refineries.

He is also the former chairman of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

Echoing similar views, Malabar Gold and Diamonds Chairman M.P. Ahammed said the increase in the duty for silver is expected to push up the price.

Senco Gold & Diamonds Managing Director and CEO Suvankar Sen opined that it may have “some negligible impact” on silver utensils and jewellery industry, while Kalyan Jewellers Executive Director Ramesh Kalyanaraman said it will have no impact as its primary focus is on gold, diamond and other precious stone studded jewellery.

Khanna Gems Chairman Pankaj Khanna said gold, silver and diamond will get more expensive and will prove to be detrimental for the sector as a whole.

Currently, India is the world’s third-largest silver physical investment market after the U.S. and Germany. The country’s silver imports touched a record high of 8,000 tonnes in 2022 on rise in jewellery consumption, as per the market data.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, February 1, presented the last full budget of the Narendra Modi government before the 2024 general elections. The Minister announced a range of new initiatives, revised income tax slabs and customs duty, and sops for agriculture and energy transition.

The Union Budget 2023-24 document also listed the new allocations for core welfare schemes that drive socio-economic development. Here’s a roundup of how the budgetary allocations for some of the key schemes have changed-

MGNREGS: The government slashed the budget for its flagship rural employment scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by nearly 32% compared to the ₹89,400 revised estimate for the scheme in the current year.

Also read | Explained | The funding and demand for MGNREGA

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was passed in 2005 and aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas. Under it, the MGNREGS is a demand-driven scheme that guarantees 100 days of unskilled work per year for every rural household that wants it, covering all districts in the country except those with a 100% urban population.

Food Subsidies: The Centre has allocated a little above ₹2 lakh crore for the food subsidy under the National Food Security Act (NFSA)- this includes funds for the Food Corporation of India, funds for decentralised procurement of grains by State agencies, and other logistical costs. Starting from January 1, 2023, the Centre had decided to provide 5 kg of free foodgrains per month to the 81.35 crore beneficiaries of the NFSA for one year starting from January 2023, rather than charging them a subsidised amount of ₹3 a kg of rice, ₹2 a kg of wheat and ₹1 a kg of coarse cereal as is usually done.

It was announced in December that the government was terminating the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), which had provided an additional 5 kg of free grains every month to NFSA beneficiaries after being launched as an emergency measure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020 and received multiple extensions since. In a normal year, without COVID disruptions, the Centre’s food subsidy bill on account of the NFSA amounted to around ₹2 lakh crore, similar to the newly-announced allocation, but the PMGKAY had effectively doubled that sum for the past two years.

Jal Jeevan Mission: The Centre increased its budgetary allocation for the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) or the National Rural Drinking Water Mission by about 27% to ₹70,000 crore from the current year’s revised estimates of ₹55,000. The Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.

The Jal Shakti Ministry tweeted last week that the government had provided 11 crore rural households with a tap water connection under the JJM scheme. Data from the Ministry’s dashboard suggest that 56% of the targeted 19.3 crore households had been covered.

The scheme has a total financial outlay of about ₹3.60 lakh crore, with the Centre funding 50% of the cost with States and Union Territories, except for Union Territories without a legislature, where it foots the entire bill, and northeastern and Himalayan States and Union Territories with legislatures, where it funds 90% of the bill.

Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY: The budget for the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) — the national public health insurance fund, saw an increase of about 12% at ₹7,200 crore compared to the ₹6,000 crore revised estimates for the current year.

The Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY is a health insurance scheme launched in 2018, aiming to provide a health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. It aims to over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families (or 50 crore beneficiaries) from the bottom 40% of the Indian population. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said in December 2022, that 4.5 crore people had so far been empanelled under the scheme.

PM-Kisan: The allocation for the Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme was the lowest in five years and remained the same as the revised estimates for the current year at ₹60,000 crore. PM-Kisan is a flagship Central scheme launched in 2019 for cash transfers ₹6,000 per year to eligible farmer families in three instalments of ₹2,000 each.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed while presenting the Union Budget on Wednesday that the government has made cash transfers totalling ₹2.2 lakh crore to around 11 crore farmers under the PM-Kisan scheme.

PM-POSHAN: The government has allocated a budget of ₹11,600 crore to the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman, or the rebranded version of the mid-day meal scheme for 2023-24. This is down 9.37% from the current year’s revised estimates of ₹12,800.

In 2021, while renaming the mid-day meal scheme to give hot cooked meals to 11.8 crore government school students from Class 1 to 8, the Centre had also decided to extend the scheme to 24 lakh children studying in balvatikas, the pre-primary section of government schools from 2022-23.

National Education Mission: A total of ₹38,965 crore was allocated to the National Education Mission for 2023-24, up 19.44% from the ₹32,612 crore revised estimates for the current year. The Mission is the umbrella scheme integrating major education-related schemes so education can be provided holistically and without segmentation from pre-primary to class 12. It includes the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan under the Right to Education and schemes for secondary and higher education as well those for teacher training and adult education.

PMAY: The Centre allocated ₹79,590 crore to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), up 3.19% from the current year’s revised estimates and 66% from the budget estimates. The PMAY aims at constructing houses in both urban and rural areas. PMAY-Gramin (rural) was initiated in November 2016 with a target of completing 2.7 crore houses and PMAY-Urban was initiated in June 2015 with a target of constructing 1.2 crore homes.

National Social Assistance Program: The budget allotted ₹9,636 to the National Social Assistance Program (NSAP), which provides monthly pension assistance to the elderly, widows, and persons with disabilities.

Development of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes: The budget allocated ₹4,295 crore and ₹9,409 crore to the umbrella programs for the development of Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste communities respectively. While the ST development allocation saw a nearly 10% increase, the SC programme funding rose by close to 22%, compared to the current year’s revised estimates.

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during a post-budget press conference, in New Delhi on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI

After having to make do with funds from the Social Justice Ministry’s contingency Budget for the first four months of its functioning, the Commission of Inquiry to examine whether SC status can be given to Dalit Christians and Muslims has been allocated an amount of ₹3.05 crore in this year’s Budget. 

Under pressure from the Supreme Court of India to clarify its present position on a batch of petitions seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Christians and Muslims, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had formed the three-member Commission of Inquiry in October 2022.

However, even after months of forming the Commission, it is awaiting a full-time office space, secretarial staffers, and official email IDs to conduct correspondence through. 

A Commission member had told The Hindu a couple of weeks before the Budget announcement, “The government has informed us that all our needs will be taken care of in the upcoming Budget allocation.”

The Commission of Inquiry, headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, has been given a total of two years to finish its studies and present a report to the government.

Commission members have told The Hindu that they intend to undertake field visits to as many States as possible for their work and examine the socio-economic condition in which such population live.

While issuing the terms of reference for the Commission, the government had said that the issue was a “seminal” one and that despite the demands for according SC status to Dalits who had over the years converted to Islam or Christianity, there was also a section of the society that was against this.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court in 2022, the Social Justice Ministry said that it expects the Commission to establish the “oppressive severity” of the discrimination faced by Dalit Christians and Muslims within their new religious fold and that it would only support giving them SC status if this is found to be the same as that faced by Dalits of Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist faiths. 

According to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, currently, only Dalits of Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist faiths can be categorised as SC. 

The Narendra Modi government, in two affidavits filed before the Supreme Court, maintained that it is not in favour of according SC status for Dalit Christians and Muslims, owing to the “foreign contributions” to the creation of these population in the country. 

This, despite the National Commission for Minorities and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, in their 2011 and 2012 affidavits filed before the top court, said they were in favour of extending the SC tag to Dalits who had converted to Islam or Christianity.

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Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav sought to compare Union Budget 2023 with previous Budgets. 
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Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said the Centre has cheated Bihar in the Union Budget 2023-24 and fooled the people of the State.

“Bihar is a backward State. The Prime Minister and the Centre had made commitments to grant Bihar a special package and status several times before but nothing has been done so far. They have only fooled the people of Bihar and cheated us,” Mr. Yadav said while speaking to mediapersons in Patna.

He also sought to compare Wednesday’s Budget with previous Budgets. “There are lots of differences between previous Budgets and this Budget. People should know about the revenue and expenditure and they should be told from where the money is coming and where it is going… but they are not”, said Mr. Yadav.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is currently undertaking a ‘Samadhan Yatra’ (solution journey) across the State, said he couldn’t listen to the Budget speech as the yatra was pre-scheduled. “Once I wrap up today’s yatra, I will get to know the details,” Mr. Kumar told mediapersons in Supaul.

However, Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who was alongside Mr. Kumar, said the State’s demands were not met in the Budget. “The people of Bihar had a lot of expectations from the Budget but the Centre has again cheated the State,” said Mr. Choudhary.

The Congress also echoed similar views. Senior State Congress leader Ajit Sharma said, “Bihar has got nothing in the Budget and the people of Bihar have been cheated once again,” said.

Opposition BJP leaders termed the Budget “pro-people”. “It’s a balanced and pro-people Budget which will benefit all sections of people in the country,” said Vijay Kumar Sinha, BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly.

The biggest cut is for space technology, under ‘Central Sector Schemes’, of ₹1,093.84 crore. 

The Department of Space expenditure has been slashed by 8% in the 2023-24 Union Budget, down to ₹12,543.91 crore, from ₹13,700 crore in the previous Budget estimate. However this is 19% higher than the revised estimate from the last fiscal.

The biggest cut is for space technology, under ‘Central Sector Schemes’, of ₹1,093.84 crore. This header encompasses the expenditure of ISRO’s various centres, including the Human Spaceflight Centre, as well as “developmental and operation projects” involving satellites and launch vehicles.

The allocation for the Semi-Conductor Laboratory, an autonomous body, has gone from ₹400 crore to zero, since the facility has been moved out from under the Department of Space as part of the India Semiconductor Mission.

Notably, the expenditure for space science, which includes the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) science missions such as Chandrayaan 3, Aditya L1, and its Climate and Atmospheric Programme, has received a nominal cut of 32% from the previous budget estimate.

Also Read | Indian Space Association demands for PLI inclusion, GST, Angel tax exemptions

Many science missions are already delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and non-availability of launch vehicles thanks to low manufacturing output and commercial launch commitments. Late January, ISRO chairman S. Somanath said Aditya L1 is expected to launch around July 2023.

Track Budget 2023 latest updates here

ISRO is expected to achieve 84% human spaceflight capability for its Gaganyaan mission in 2023-24. It is also expected to launch 13 satellites on four PSLV launches, three satellites on two GSLV launches, and one on its new SSLV rocket, with a projected commercial revenue of ₹331.5 crore.

The INSAT satellite system has received a hike of ₹112 crore and is expected to generate a revenue of ₹445 crore in 2023-2024 by “providing satcom services”.

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The Congress general secretary for communications and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh also expressed dismay at the sharp cut. Image for representation purpose only.
| Photo Credit: K.K. Mustafah

In line with the recent trend of slashing the budget of its flagship rural jobs scheme, the Union Budget allocated only ₹60,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme for 2023-24. That is 18% lower than the ₹73,000 crore budget estimates for the current year, and 33% lower than the ₹89,000 crore revised estimates for the scheme.

In the last budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the MGNREGA allocation saw a 25% cut to ₹73,000 crore. Left with a spiralling unpaid balance at the end of the year, the Rural Development Ministry had demanded an additional ₹25,000 crore to meet the shortfall in the scheme. The Finance Ministry only approved ₹16,000 crore, taking the revised budget for this financial year to ₹89,000 crore.

Also Read | MGNREGA needs at least ₹2.72 lakh crore for providing 100 days of work, say activists

Despite the higher revised estimates, less than 3% of the households employed under MGNREGA completed the 100 days of work they are legally entitled to. AsThe Hindu reported on January 26, the average days of employment provided per household is at a five-year low in this financial year. Till January 20, the average days of employment provided per household was only 42, while it ranged between 48 and 52 days in the preceding four years.

‘Killing the law’

On the eve of the Union Budget, a consortium of activists and academics working under the umbrella group of Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee and the NREGA Sangarsh Morcha had said that, in order to provide the legally guaranteed 100 days of work to all households who have worked in the current year, the scheme required an allocation of ₹2.72 lakh crore. According to their calculations, even giving each active household just 40 days of work would require funding of ₹1.24 lakh crore, more than double the current allocation.

Track Budget 2023 latest updates here

“Such a low allocation is clearly aimed at killing the law. This allocation does not meet even the minimum threshold. And you have to remember that even the revised estimate of ₹89,000 crore is after completely excluding West Bengal, which till the previous years had got 10% of the total MGNREGA budget,” Nikhil Dey, founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, said.

‘Brutal surgical strike on the poor’

The Congress general secretary for communications and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh also expressed dismay at the sharp cut. “Even assuming MGNREGA is demand-driven, the cut is rather savage. But it is in line with the government’s steps to keep demand itself suppressed,” he told The Hindu.

Kerala Rural Development Minister and CPI(M) leader M.B. Rajesh called this “drastic reduction” a “brutal surgical strike on the poor” which reflects the government’s “anti-poor” slant. “The current budget allocation is less than one-fourth of what the country needs to follow the law in letter and spirit. This is the culmination of a systematic effort by the Narendra Modi government to sabotage MGNREGA. They shouldn’t forget that it was MGNREGA that helped in staving off starvation during the pandemic years,” Mr. Rajesh said.

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