New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced a 66 per cent hike in the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY) outlay to Rs 79,000 crore. Presenting the Union Budget 2023-24, she said states and cities will be encouraged to take up urban planning.She also said that the Union government will create Urban Infrastructure Development Fund on the lines of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund and it will be managed by the National Housing Bank. The Budget 2022 had allotted Rs 48,000 crore for the completion of 80 lakh houses under PMAY.
As of November 2022, more than 1.20 crore houses have been sanctioned under PMAY, of which more than 64 lakh have been completed, with the remaining in various stages of construction, the ministry of housing and urban affairs has said. The extension of CLSS will give the homebuyers the financial elbow room to make a purchase but experts said a standard definition for 60m and 90m affordable homes would have given a bigger boost to the housing industry.Launched in June 2015, PMAY aims to provide pucca houses with basic amenities to all eligible urban beneficiaries.It also seeks to resolve the urban housing shortage among low and middle-income groups and promote homeownership among women.The programme has been extended to December 31, 2024, to complete the houses sanctioned till March 31, 2022.
New savings scheme for women with 7.5% fixed interest rate for 2 years: A ‘Mahila Samman Saving Certificate’ with a fixed interest rate of 7.5 per cent for two years. The deposit can be made in the name of a woman or a girl child. The maximum deposit amount has been kept at Rs 2 lakh and the scheme will have a partial withdrawal facility as well.
“One-time new small saving under ‘Mahila Samman Saving Patra’. The deposit facility for the women and girls will be for a period of two years with a rate of interest of 7.5 per cent,” Sitharaman announced. She also said that for the economic empowerment of women under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission, 81 lakh self-help groups have been created by mobilising rural women.
“We will enable these groups to reach the next stage of economic empowerment through the formation of large producer enterprises or collectives with each having several thousand members,” she said. Financial assistance of more than Rs 2.25 lakh crore has been provided to small farmers under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi. About three crore women farmers have been provided Rs 54,000 crore under the scheme, the finance minister said.Sitharaman also announced enhancing the maximum amount of money that can be invested in the senior citizen saving scheme (SCSS) to Rs 30 lakh compared to Rs 15 lakh now. The postal monthly income scheme also saw an enhancement of limit. In a single name, Rs 9 lakh can be invested as compared to Rs 4.5 lakh now.The enhancement of limits has come as a solace for investors looking for regular income in times of high inflation. The schemes are backed by a sovereign and hence do not carry credit risk.
National coop database is being created to map coop societies:
A national cooperative database is being created to map cooperative societies. The move would help in better implementation of the proposed national policy on cooperatives. As per the data published by the NCUI, there are about 8.6 lakh cooperatives in the country, out of which active primary agricultural cooperatives (PACs) are about 63,000.She also said that the agriculture credit target has increased to Rs 20 lakh crore for FY24, with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.Further, the government is planning to set up massive decentralised storage capacity to help farmers, the minister said in her Budget speech. In January this year, the government decided to establish three new cooperative societies to promote organic products, seeds and exports.The Cabinet has approved the establishment of the National Export Society, National Cooperative Society for Organic Products and National Level Multi-state Seed Cooperative Society.
To improve socio-economic
condition of vulnerable tribes:
Proposed to launch a scheme to improve the socio-economic condition of particularly vulnerable primitive tribal groups. An amount of Rs 15,000 crore will be made available to implement the Prime Minister Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PM-PVTG) development mission in next three years under the development action plan for Scheduled Tribes, she said while presenting the Union Budget for 2023-24 in Parliament.
“PM-PVTG development missions are being launched to improve socio-economic conditions of the particularly vulnerable tribal groups,” the finance minister announced.This will saturate PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities such as safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to health, education, nutrition, road and telecom connectivity and sustainable livelihood opportunity, she said.
“An amount of Rs 15,000 crore will be made available to implement the mission in the next three years,” she added. In the next three years, the Centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for 749 Eklavya Model Residential Schools servicing 3.5 lakh tribal students, Sitharaman noted.
Infra development capex hiked
by 33 pc to Rs 10L cr:
The capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development for 2023-24 and will be at 3.3 per cent of the GDP.She said the newly established infrastructure finance secretariat will assist in attracting more private investment. An expert committee will also be set up to make infrastructure classification and financing framework suitable for Amrit Kaal, she added. On October 13 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Gati Shakti – National Master Plan, aimed at developing an integrated infrastructure to reduce logistics costs. All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, entailing an investment of over Rs 500 crore, are routed through the NPG, constituted under the PM Gati Shakti initiative. She also informed that the PM Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Group scheme would benefit 3.5 lakh tribals.
