BJD MP Sujeet Kumar highlights that the States of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar received what he calls a “budget bonanza.” 

He offers examples: Rs. 26,000 crore have been granted to Bihar for road projects, while Rs. 15,000 crore this fiscal and the next have been granted to Andhra Pradesh for development of the capital city of Amravati. He also points out that the government has promised support for loans from multilateral agencies for Bihar and AP.

The Finance Minister also announced a backward region grant for three districts of Odisha, he says, but adds that other regions of Odisha are equally backward as these districts. 

We don’t grudge this budget bonanza for Bihar and AP, we are happy they have gotten budgetary support, he says. “But why step motherly treatment for the other States?” he questions. 

He also questions the lack of an adequate focus on R&D, education, food and nutrition in the Union Budget, among other issues. He also says that we should spend at least 3% of our Budget on defense. 

New Delhi:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey in Parliament on July 22, a day ahead of the Union Budget, which will be a report card on the economy and also the growth outlook ahead.

The survey gives a detailed account of the state of the economy, prospects and policy challenges. It is prepared by a team led by chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran.

The Economic Survey provides statistical information and analysis on various sectors of the economy as well as data on employment, GDP growth, inflation, and the budget deficit.

India has retained its tag as the fastest-growing economy, and the economic survey will be presented at a time when the IMF has just raised its economic growth forecast for the country for FY25 to 7 per cent from 6.8 per cent projected in April.

“The forecast for growth in India has also been revised upward, to 7 per cent, this year, with the change reflecting carryover from upward revisions to growth in 2023 and improved prospects for private consumption, particularly in rural areas,” the IMF said.

In June, the Reserve Bank of India revised the growth forecast to 7.2 from 7 per cent.

The RBI sees India moving ahead towards an 8 per cent GDP growth trajectory on a sustained basis, driven by structural economic reforms such as GST.

“If you look at the average growth India recorded over the three years, the average comes to 8.3 per cent and the current year we have given a projection of 7.2 per cent growth,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said.

He also said the Indian economy in the last financial year 2023-24 contributed to 18.5 per cent of the global growth which is a major achievement as it was much lower 7 or 8 years ago. The IMF has projected that this growth will go up, he added.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Centre has listed six new bills for introduction, including the one which seeks to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, to provide enabling provisions for ease of doing business in the aviation sector, in the upcoming Parliament session beginning Monday.

Besides the Finance Bill, the government has also listed ‘The Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill’ for introduction, consideration and passing.

The proposed legislation aims to bring more clarity and convergence in the roles of different organisations working in the field of disaster management, a Lok Sabha bulletin issued Thursday said.

The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 seeks to replace the Aircraft Act of 1934 to provide enabling provisions for ease of doing business in the civil aviation sector.

The session beginning July 22 will conclude on August 12.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget on Tuesday, July 23.

Other bills listed for introduction and passage during the session are the Boilers Bill to replace the pre-Independence era law, the Coffee (Promotion and Development) Bill and the Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has also constituted the Business Advisory Committee (BAC), which decides the parliamentary agenda.

The committee chaired by the Speaker has Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), P P Chaudhary (BJP), Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu (TDP), Nishikant Dubey (BJP), Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP), Dileshwar Kamait (JD-U), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJP), Dayanidhi Maran (DMK), Baijayant Panda (BJP), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT), Kodikunnil Suresh (Congress), Anurag Thakur (BJP) and Lalji Verma (SP) as members.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)