Modi Budget 2.0: From employment to farmers - Anurag Thakur, MoS for Finance, on new roadmap

A day after India's first full-time woman Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Modi 2.0 government's Budget for the financial year 2019-20, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Anurag Thakur and several other top BJP leaders on Saturday will be assembling to discuss key issues concerning the nation today. In conversation with News Nation at our 'Modi Budget 2.0' Sammelan, the MoS will speak on a wide range of topics, including employment, farmers, education, health and small-scale industries. On May 31, Thakur assumed charge as the Minister of State in the finance ministry.

In a bid to shore up consumption and faltering economic growth, the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Friday announced a host of incentives for healthcare, agriculture and several other sectors in the country.

The government has proposed to increase budget allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare by over 78 per cent to Rs 1.39 lakh crore for the current fiscal, out of which Rs 75,000 crore will be for the flagship scheme PM-KISAN. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), launched just before the general elections, aims to give Rs 6,000 annually in three equal installments to 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers.

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The health outlay for this financial year saw an increase of around 19 per cent over the 2018-2019 fiscal when it was Rs 52,800 crore. The budgetary allocation for the sector is Rs 60,908.22 crore, with Rs 6,400 crore earmarked for the centre's flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY). The AB-PMJAY is a flagship scheme of the Union government that aims at providing annual health cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 10.74 crore vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries).

Who is Anurag Thakur?

Anurag Thakur, son of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, had won the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat for the fourth time by defeating Ram Lal Thakur of the Congress by nearly four lakh votes, a record margin for the constituency.

44-year-old Thakur was also the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from May 2016 to February 2017. The Supreme Court had ordered his ouster as the BCCI president in January that year for trying to hinder the implementation of the Lodha reforms.