Modi Budget 2.0: How old school 'bahi khata' is step closer to New India, explains Anurag Thakur

From job creation to the World Cup dreams of Virat Kohli and his boys, BJP Minister Anurag Thakur spoke on wide range of issues during the second session of the News Nation’s special summit on Union Budget. Talking to News Nation’s Ajay Kumar, the State (MoS) for Finance spoke about how the Centre is working on job creation. When prodded on the use of red cloth folio and new name for the Union Budget, Thakur said that, “angrez chale gaye….”he pointed out the use of the briefcase was a colonial hangover and the old school ‘bahi khata’ was the blueprint of ‘New India’.

“The banks were allocated Rs 70,000 crore in the (Union) Budget. This will result in stronger banks. The government is working at employment opportunities. Unemployment has gone down. The government working with dedication,” Thakur said.

He also lauded the Centre’s special initiatives that have lessened the corruption in corporate sector. “Jo brasht hai, usse kasht hoga,” Thakur said. “Government proposed a 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance intermediaries in the Union Budget 2019. Less than 3.5 crore people used to pay tax earlier. It is only because PM Modi's efforts that the taxpayers have doubled,” Thakur added. 

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 instalments to 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers.

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. On May 31, Thakur assumed charge as the Minister of State in the finance ministry.