Highlights of Union Budget 2021-22

Key Highlights of Union Budget 2021-22

Presenting the first-ever digital Union Budget, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman stated that India’s fight against COVID-19 continues into 2021 and that this moment in history, when the political, economic, and strategic relations in the post-COVID world are changing, is the dawn of a new era – one in which India is well-poised to truly be the land of promise and hope.

The key highlights of the Union Budget 2021-22 are as follows:

6 pillars of the Union Budget 2021-22:

1. Health and Wellbeing
2. Physical & Financial Capital, and Infrastructure
3. Inclusive Development for Aspirational India
4. Reinvigorating Human Capital
5. Innovation and R&D
6. Minimum Government and Maximum Governance

1. Health and Wellbeing

• Rs. 2,23,846 crore outlay for Health and Wellbeing in BE 2021-22 as against Rs. 94,452 crore in BE 2020-21 – an increase of 137%
• Focus on strengthening three areas: Preventive, Curative, and Wellbeing
• Steps being taken for improving health and wellbeing:

Vaccines

• Rs. 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccine in BE 2021-22
• The Made-in-India Pneumococcal Vaccine to be rolled out across the country, from present 5 states – to avert 50,000 child deaths annually

Health Systems

• Rs. 64,180 crore outlay over 6 years for PM AatmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana – a new centrally sponsored scheme to be launched, in addition to NHM
• Main interventions under PM AatmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana:
• National Institution for One Health
• 17,788 rural and 11,024 urban Health and Wellness Centers
• 4 regional National Institutes for Virology
• 15 Health Emergency Operation Centers and 2 mobile hospitals
• Integrated public health labs in all districts and 3382 block public health units in 11 states
• Critical care hospital blocks in 602 districts and 12 central institutions
• Strengthening of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), its 5 regional branches, and 20 metropolitan health surveillance units
• Expansion of the Integrated Health Information Portal to all States/UTs to connect all public health labs
• 17 new Public Health Units and strengthening of 33 existing Public Health Units
• Regional Research Platform for WHO South-East Asia Region
• 9 Bio-Safety Level III laboratories

Nutrition

• Mission Poshan 2.0 to be launched:
• To strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome
• Merging the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan
• Intensified strategy to be adopted to improve nutritional outcomes across 112 Aspirational Districts

Universal Coverage of Water Supply

• Rs. 2,87,000 crore over 5 years for Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) – to be launched with an aim to provide:
• 2.86 crore household tap connections
• Universal water supply in all 4,378 Urban Local Bodies
• Liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities

Swachch Bharat, Swasth Bharat

• Rs. 1,41,678 crore over 5 years for Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0
• Main interventions under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0:
• Complete faecal sludge management and waste water treatment
• Source segregation of garbage
• Reduction in single-use plastic
• Reduction in air pollution by effectively managing waste from construction-and-demolition activities
• Bio-remediation of all legacy dumpsites

Clean Air

Rs. 2,217 crores to tackle air pollution, for 42 urban centers with a million-plus population

Scrapping Policy

Voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles
Fitness tests in automated fitness centres:
After 20 years in case of personal vehicles
After 15 years in case of commercial vehicles

Physical and Financial Capital and Infrastructure

Production Linked Incentive scheme (PLI)

• Rs. 1.97 lakh crore in next 5 years for PLI schemes in 13 Sectors
• To create and nurture manufacturing global champions for an AatmaNirbhar Bharat
• To help manufacturing companies become an integral part of global supply chains, possess core competence and cutting-edge technology
• To bring scale and size in key sectors
• To provide jobs to the youth

Textiles

• Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) scheme, in addition to PLI:
• 7 Textile Parks to be established over 3 years
• Textile industry to become globally competitive, attract large investments, and boost employment generation & exports

Infrastructure

• National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) expanded to 7,400 projects:
• Around 217 projects worth Rs. 1.10 lakh crore completed
• Measures in three thrust areas to increase funding for NIP:

i) Creation of institutional structures
ii) Big thrust on monetizing assets
iii) Enhancing the share of capital expenditure