Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday presented the first merged Union and Railway Budget . The budget offered varied benefits for the poor, agriculture, railway, housing and education sector.
Here are 12 measures announced for the poor :
1) Mahila Shakti Kendra will be set up with an allocation of Rs 500 crore in 14 lakh Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Anganwadi Centres. This will provide one stop convergent support services for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition
2) Under Maternity Benefit Scheme Rs 6,000 each will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of pregnant women who undergo institutional delivery and vaccinate their children.
3) Affordable housing to be given infrastructure status
4) National Housing Bank will refinance individual housing loans of about Rs 20,000 crore in 2017-18.
5) Government has prepared an action plan to eliminate Kala-Azar and Filariasis by 2017, Leprosy by 2018, Measles by 2020 and Tuberculosis by 2025 is also targeted
6) Action plan has been prepared to reduce Infant Mortality Rate from 39 in 2014 to 28 by 2019 and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) from 167 in 2011-13 to 100 by 2018-2020.
7) The government has proposed to create additional 5,000 post graduate seats per annum to ensure adequate availability of specialist doctors to strengthen Secondary and Tertiary levels of health care.
8) Two new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat.
9) To foster a conducive labour environment, legislative reforms will be undertaken to simplify, rationalise and amalgamate the existing labour laws into 4 Codes on (i) wages; (ii) industrial relations; (iii) social security and welfare; and (iv) safety and working conditions.
10) The government has proposed to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to ensure availability of drugs at reasonable prices and promote use of generic medicines
11) The allocation for Scheduled Castes has been increased by 35% compared to Budget Estimate 2016-17. The allocation for Scheduled Tribes has been increased to Rs 31,920 crores and for Minority Affairs to Rs 4,195 crore.
12) For senior citizens, Aadhar based Smart Cards containing their health details will be introduced.
