Budget inspired by five years of BJP rule: Goyal

Mumbai, Feb 8 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday that the recent Interim Budget 2019 was inspired by ideas gathered from the past years of BJP rule.

Higlighting various benefits given to the people across all sectors in the economy, he told a gathering of prominent corporate leaders that it reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's desire to be "a completely honest budget".

Elaborating on various aspects, Goyal said every consumer will get an electric connection by March 2019, 98 per cent homes already have toilets, compared to barely one-third of all households, or only 12 crore of 25 crore families having a gas connection, when the NDA government took office in 2014.

Justifying the Rs 6,000 crore direct income allocation for farmers, the Finance Minister said it was only proper that the 14.50 crore small-marginal farmers get support under the Pradhan Mantri Sanman Nidhi Yojana, from a portion of the taxes, adding that the first instalment of these allocations would be disbursed this year itself.

On the allocation of Rs 500 crore for the Mega Pension Scheme of Rs 3,000 per month for workers in the unorganized sector, Goyal said nearly 42 crore people are engaged in it and it was imperative that they should get some honorarium to enable them live a dignified life post-retirement.

He appreciated the role of public sector banks towards improving financial inclusion by opening 36 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts and lauded them for improving credit availability among the rural masses.

Goyal said the government is making attempts to remove banks from the Prompt Corrective Action framework and steps to prevent wrongful investigations against innocent bankers (in scams).