Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday said the Union Budget for 2023-24 will pave the way for the welfare of the poor and farmers and building a developed India.
Uttarakhand will especially benefit from schemes such as Shri Anna Yojana and the provisions made in the budget for agriculture, tourism and infrastructure, Prasad said at a press conference here as part of the BJP's countrywide discussion on the Union Budget.
"The Union Budget is in the interest of the people of the country. A roadmap for the development of the poor, farmers, youth and women is at the core of the budget for 2023-24," Prasad said.
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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2023-24 in Parliament on February 1.
Prasad said at a time when the entire world is suffering the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, India is touching new heights of development.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted India's GDP is to grow at a rate 6.8 per cent. It shows India is a shining economy in the world, Prasad, a former Union minister, said.
He hoped that the talented youth of Uttarakhand would take advantage of the start-ups to be launched in the agricultural sector.
In the cooperative sector, a provision of Rs 63,000 crore has been made in the budget for digitalization and other schemes which will also benefit Uttarakhand, he said.
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Uttarakhand is going to get the maximum benefit from the prime minister's goal of taking India's millet to the world because the economy of most of the small farmers here depends on the production of coarse grains like mandua, jhingora and ramdana, he said.
The budget has allocated Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure and Rs 2,40,000 crore for the railways, out of which Rs 5,004 crore has been allocated for Uttarakhand alone.
Asked about Uttarakhand not being given its long-awaited green bonus in the budget, he said there is a plan to develop hydrogen energy worth Rs 35,000 crore in this budget from which all Himalayan states will benefit.
Prasad also attended a meeting of intellectuals later in the day as the chief guest and spoke at length about the positive changes that had been brought about in the country after 2014, especially on the economic front despite a worldwide slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
-With PTI Input
