The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has said that the Government is committed to make development process as green as possible. While presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in Parliament today, the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley stated that our de-facto 'Carbon Tax' on most petroleum products compares favourably with international norms. He said, with regard to coal, there is a need to find a balance between taxing pollution, and the price of power. Shri Jaitley also said that the government is launching a scheme for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles. He proposed an initial outlay of Rs. 75 crore for the scheme in 2015-16. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has revised its target of renewable energy capacity to 1,75,000 MW till 2022, comprising 1,00,000 MW Solar, 60,000 MW Wind, 10,000 MW Biomass and 5,000 MW Small Hydro, he added. Shri Arun Jaitley said that malfeasance in public procurement can be contained by having a procurement law and institutional structure. He urged the Parliament to take a view soon on whether we need a procurement law, and if so, what shape it should take. The Finance Minister while stating that disputes arising in public contracts take a long to resolve, and the process is very costly, he proposed to introduce a Public Contracts (Resolution of Disputes) Bill to streamline the institutional arrangements for resolution of such disputes. Shri Arun Jaitley has also proposed to introduce a Regulatory Reform Law that will bring about a cogency of approach across various sectors of infrastructure to tackle the lack of common approach and philosophy in the regulatory arrangements prevailing with different sectors.
