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Budget 2018: Arun Jaitely announced friendly budget, 10 key highlights

Guess what? this time rising air pollution has also caught Jaitely's attention as he has announced a "special scheme" to tackle the problem.

Budget 2018 LIVE: Modi says it's aam aadmi, business-friendly Union Budget
Budget 2018 LIVE: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Rashmi Sinha
Last Updated : Feb 01 2018 | 5:58 PM IST
The much-awaited union budget 2018 is finally here and needless to say, the government has tried to go a step further and managed to bring a smile on the faces of people who were expecting a lot from the Modi government. And guess what? this time rising air pollution has also caught Jaitely's attention as he has announced a "special scheme" to tackle the problem. However, the Personal income tax slabs remain unchanged which no doubt will create some trouble for him but overall Jaitely did a good work by presenting an all-friendly budget with a focus on agriculture, health, and small businesses. This year budget focuses more on the rural sector and for their betterment. From announcing a proposal of spending Rs 14.34 lakh crore on rural infra to providing medical reimbursement, this time Arun Jaitley has managed to impress his rural audiences as he offered a lot for them. 

So before talking about in details about the recently announced union budget by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the parliament, here we bring to you 10 key highlights which will force you to believe that Jaitely has announced "an all-friendly budget." Start scrolling: 

1. Promoting Animal husbandry: In order to promote animal husbandry and fisheries, Jaitley has announced to set up two schemes —the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Fund and Animal Husbandry Financing Fund. Both the schemes are going to worth a total amount of Rs 10,000 crore. 

2. Proposed spending on rural infra is Rs 14.34 lakh crore: Talking about the rural infrastructure, the Modi government announced a plan to build 10 million new homes under the rural housing scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. 

3. Electricity connectivity: For providing better electricity supply, the government is all set to spend Rs 16,000 crore to extend the power connectivity to 40 million new households.

4. Health: Showing the concern towards the health sector, the government has announced to launch the National Health Protection Scheme under which provide health insurance worth Rs5 lakh annually to 100 million families.

5. 150,000 healthcare clinics in rural areas: Focusing more on the health of the rural people, Jaitely has now promised to spend a huge amount of money to set up 150,000 healthcare clinics in rural areas under the Bharat Ayushman Programme. 

6. The government has also promised to allocate Rs 600 crore towards the nutritional support of tuberculosis patients. 

7. Agricultural Promotion: India's economy depends a lot on the agriculture so while promoting the same this time Arun Jaitley has announced a new scheme, Operation Greens. It will help to promote agricultural products. For notified Kharif crops, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) will be 1.5 times the input cost. 

8. Deduction on medical insurance premium for senior citizens: While presenting Budget 2018, Jaitely has proposed to increase the limit of deduction under section 80 D of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 for senior citizens from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000.  

9. Wifi connection in the rural area: 5 lakh WiFi hotspots will be set up in rural areas to provide easy internet access. 

10. LPG connection: FM Jaitely has promised to provide 8 crores, rural women, free LPG connections under a scheme called Ujjwala. 

So, no doubt the 2018-19 union budget is more inclined towards the betterment of the rural people. 

Some others highlights are: 

Govt will launch health scheme to cover 10 crores, poor families

Eklavya schools to be started for Scheduled Tribe populations

Govt will set up two new Schools of Planning and Architecture

Modi Government aims to bring 60 crore bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana. 

Government to contribute 12 per cent of EPF contribution for new employees in all sectors
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