Budget 2024 Highlights and Key Announcements: FM Nirmala Sitharaman says fiscal deficit brought down despite very challenging times

Budget 2024 Highlights: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday made history by presenting her sixth consecutive budget, matching the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, just ahead of the Parliamentary elections. The Indian economy has witnessed a profound positive transformation in the last 10 years, Sitharaman said. Presenting the interim Budget 2024-25, she said that the government is working to make India a developed country by 2047. Poor, women, youth and farmers are four castes for the government, she added.

India is the fastest growing major economy in the world and in the coming years will become the world’s third largest economy with a $5 trillion GDP. FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2024 Vote On Account is expected to provide a path to that goal.

25 crore people freed from multi-dimensional poverty:

Sitharaman on Thursday said 25 crore people got freedom from multi-dimensional poverty in the last 10 years. Earlier approach of tackling poverty through entitlement resulted in very modest outcomes, she said while presenting the interim Budget in the Lok Sabha. There is transparency and assurance that benefits are transferred to all eligible citizens, she said.

Working to make India a developed nation by 2047:

The government is working to make India a developed country by 2047, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. Presenting the interim Budget 2024-25, Sitharaman also said minimum support prices for 'annadata' (farmers) have been increased periodically and appropriately. She asserted that for the government, social justice is an effective and necessary model. "We focus on outcomes and not outlays," Sitharaman said.

Healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat to be extended to ASHA workers:

The government on Thursday announced the extension of healthcare cover under Ayushman Bharat to all ASHA and anganwadi workers. Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) is the largest publicly funded health insurance scheme in the world that provides coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

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