 I rise to lay on the table a copy of the following papers report of the 15th Finance Commission for the year 2020-2021, explanatory memorandum on the action taken on the recommendations contained in the report of the 15th Finance Commission. I rise with your permission to present a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India for the year 2020-2021. I rise to present the budget for the year 2020-2021. In May 2019, Prime Minister Modi received a massive mandate to form the Government again. With renewed vigour, under his leadership, we commit ourselves to serve the people of India with all humility and dedication. People of India have unequivocally given their janadesh for not just political stability and also repost faith in our economic policy. This is the budget to boost their incomes and enhance their purchasing power. Only through higher growth, we can achieve that and have our youth gainfully and meaningfully employed. Let our businesses be innovative, healthy and solvent with use of technology. For today's youth, born at the turn of the century, for every member of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes who seek a better life, for every woman wishing to stand up and get counted, for every individual from the minority sections of our society, this budget aims to give and have your aspirations and hopes addressed. We wish to open up with stars for a vibrant and dynamic economy with a gentle breeze of new technology. This vibrant India shall be a caring society which shall attend to its weak, the old and the vulnerable among its citizens. During 2014-19, our government brought in a paradigm shift in governance. This shift was characterized by a twin focus, fundamental structural reform and inclusive growth. Fundamentals of the economy are strong and that has ensured macroeconomic stability. Innovation has been well contained, banks saw a thorough cleaning up of accumulated loans of the past decade and then they were recapitalized. Companies were provided an exit through the IBC. Several steps on the formalization of the economy were taken up. Of the structural reforms, the goods and services tax, the GST, has been the most historic in our country. Its chief architect is not with us today. I pay homage to the visionary leader, Laetri Arunjaitli, at the time of rollout of GST he had said and I quote, India will be an India, it will be an India where the center and states will work harmoniously towards the common goal of shared prosperity. The unanimity of the constitutional amendment and the consensus of the GST council highlights that India can rise above narrow politics for the nation's interest. With the GST, neither the state nor the center loses its sovereignty. In contrast, they will pull their sovereignty on decisions on indirect taxes, unquote. True to this vision for the historic structural reform, the goods and services tax has been gradually maturing into a tax that has integrated the country economically. It has consolidated numerous taxes and cesses to one tax and facilitated formalization of the economy. It has resulted in the efficiency gains in logistic and transport sectors. The turnaround time for trucks has witnessed a substantial reduction to the tune of 20 percent due to abolition of check posts in the GST. The dreaded Inspector Raj has also vanished. It has also led to significant benefits to MSME by way of enhanced threshold and composition limit. The effective tax incidents on almost every commodity came down substantially. Through several rate reductions, an annual benefit of one lakh crore rupees has been extended to consumers. It amounts to 10 percent reduction in overall tax incidents. An average household now saves about 4 percent of its monthly spends on account of reduced GST rates. During this phase of maturing, GST did face certain challenges. This was natural as transition was daunting. GST Council has been proactive in resolving issues during the transition. In the last two years, we have added more than 60 lakh new taxpayers. A total of about 40 crore returns were filed. 800 crore invoices were uploaded and 105 crore e-way bills were generated. There has been extensive engagement with stakeholders. A simplified new return system is being introduced from 1st April, 2020. A former Prime Minister had once voiced a concern that the fruits of the welfare schemes were not reaching the intended citizens. The common and deserving citizen was only receiving 15 paise of every rupee sent to him. Guided by Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, our government and our Prime Minister added manifold speed and scaled up the implementation of schemes and programs that directly benefited the poor and the disadvantaged. I wish to list out only a few as examples. One, welfare schemes with direct benefit transfer embedded in them. Two, sanitation and water as provision of basic needs and as a measure of preventive health care. Three, health care through Aishman Bharat, clean energy through Ujwala and Sola power, 4th. 5th, financial inclusion, credit support, insurance protection to vulnerable sections and pension scheme, 6th, digital penetration with broadband and UPI and finally affordable housing for all through PMAY, the Prime Minister Awaz Yojana. The milestones achieved are unprecedented, globally recognized and benchmarked against international indices. This strategy changed the established order of a few individuals, cornering most of the benefits and was appreciated by the people. This had immensely positive outcomes. We have moved on from a growth rate of just over 4% in 1950s to 6% in 80s and in the 90s. However, during 2014 and 19, we clocked a growth of 7.4% on average with inflation averaging around 4.5% itself. It is worthwhile to note that inflation was close to 9% in the last two decades of the last millennium and ranged 10 per 0.5% during 2009 and 14. Between 2006 and 1916, India was able to raise, I repeat that line, between 2006 and 1916, India was able to raise 271 million people out of poverty, which we all should be proud of. We are now the fifth largest economy of the world. India's foreign direct investment got elevated to the level of 284 billion US dollars during 2014 and 19 from 190 billion US dollars that came in during the years 2009 to 2014. The central government debt that has been the bane of our economy got reduced in March 2019 to 48.7% of GDP from a level of 52.2% in March 2014. Just between 2014 and 19, I recall this figure, the central government's debt in March 2019 has come down to 48.7% of the GDP from a level of 52.2% in March 2014. With this backdrop, our government shall work towards taking the country forward so that we can leapfrog to the next level of health, prosperity and well-being. We shall strive to bring ease of living to every citizen. I am mindful of presenting this budget in the backdrop of two cross-cutting developments. One, proliferation of technologies, specially analytics, machine learning, robotics, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence. And also, number two, the number of people in the productive age group that is 15 to 25 years of age in India being at its highest. So these are the two cross-cutting streams keeping in the backdrop while we are talking about the budget today. This combination is special to contemporary India. Across the world, if there is a shrinking of globalization, equally, there is a debate on the efficacy of monetary policy too. The efforts we have made in the last five years and the energy, the enthusiasm and the innovation of our youth are the ignition required to push forward. This Indian spirit of entrepreneurship which weathered several storms over the centuries inspire and motivate us. We recognize the need to support and further energize the spirit. This budget is woven around three prominent themes. One, aspirational India in which all sections of the society seek better standards of living with access to health, education and better jobs. Two, economic development for all, indicated in the Prime Minister's exhortation of Sapkasaap, Sapkavika, Sapkavishwas. This would entail reforms across sweds of the economy. Simultaneously, it would mean yielding more space for the private sector. Together they would ensure higher productivity and greater efficiency. And three, ours shall be a caring society that is both humane and compassionate. Antyodhya is an article of faith. So I repeat, this budget is woven around three prominent themes, aspirational India, economic development and a caring society. The digital revolution which has placed India in a unique leadership position globally will see the next wave. We shall aim to achieve seamless delivery of services through digital governance, to improve physical quality of life through national infrastructure pipeline, risk mitigation through disaster resilience, social security through pension and insurance penetration. Each one of these initiatives and their components would be benchmarked to international standards and the indices would be announced soon. Before I move to elaborate on each of these three themes, I wish to recite a small verse in Kashmiri. Son Watan, Son Watan Gulzar Shalimar Hiyum, Son Watan Gulzar Shalimar Hiyum, Dal Mans Pholvun Pamposh Hiyum, Navjavan An Hund, Vushan Kumar Hiyum, Mion Watan, Chion Watan, Son Watan, Nundboni Watan. I'll read this in Hindi, not as a poem, but for the meaning. Hamara Watan, Kilti Hue Shalimar Baag Jaisai, Hamara Watan, Kilti Hue Shalimar Baag Jaisai, Hamara Watan, Dal Lake Me, Kilti Hue Kamal Jaisai, Navjavanon Ke Garam Khun Jaisai, Navjavanon Ke Garam Khun Jaisai, Meera Watan, Thera Watan, Hamara Watan, Dunya Ka Sabse Pyara Watan. It is everything that we do here, everything that we speak through the budget, and everything that this government does with the guidance and leadership of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is for this Pyara Watan. This poem I must mention is a poem written by Pandit Dinanath Khol, who is a Sahitya Academy awardee. Honorable Speaker, I now move to the first of my theme, which is the aspirational India. I shall cover programs and plans related to agriculture, irrigation, and rural development. That's my first under the aspirational India theme. Second, wellness, water, and sanitation, that's the second under aspirational India. And the third is education and skills. I move to talking about agriculture, irrigation, and rural development. Our government is committed to the goal of doubling farmers' incomes by 2022. We have provided energy sovereignty through kusum and input sovereignty through Paramparagat Krishivikas Yojana. We have provided receivience for 6.11 crore farmers insured under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana. Focus on cultivation of pulses, expansion of micro-irrigation through Krishisinchai Yojana, have raised the self-reliance of the country. Provision of any annual supplement of the income to the farmer directly is done through PM Kisan. Connectivity through PM GSY, Gram Sadak Yojana, financial inclusion have helped raise farm incomes. Prosperity to farmers can be ensured by making farm and farming competitive. For this, farm markets need to be liberalized. Distortions in farm and livestock markets need to be removed. Purchase of farm produce, logistics, agri-services need copious investments. Farm support and hand-holding of farm-based activities such as livestock, apiary and fisheries need to be provided for. Farmers desire integrated solutions covering storage, financing and processing and marketing. Adopting sustainable cropping patterns and bringing in more technology are integral to our plan. All this and more can be achieved through working with and in cooperation with the states. The following sixteen action points indicate our focus. We propose to encourage those state governments who undertake implementation of following model laws already issued by the central government. My first of the sixteen action points is to encourage those state governments who undertake implementation of following model laws which are already passed and issued by the central government. First, Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act of 2016. Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act of 2017. Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services Promotion and Facilitation Act of 2018. So three model agriculture related laws we would like state governments to consider favorably. Second of the sixteen action points, water stress related issues are now a serious concern across the country. Our government is proposing comprehensive measures for one hundred water stressed districts. Our government is proposing comprehensive measures for one hundred water stressed districts. Third of the sixteen, in the budget speech of July 2019 I had stated that Anadata can be Woorjadata also. The PM Kusum scheme removed farmers' dependence on diesel and kerosene and linked pump sets to solar energy. Now I propose to expand the scheme to provide twenty lakh farmers for setting up standalone solar pumps. Further, we shall also help another fifteen lakh farmers solarize their grid connected pump sets. In addition, a scheme to enable farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow and barren lands and to sell it to grid would be operationalized. Speaker sir, this is a major step forward in which we are saying that farmers, if they have fallow or barren lands now will be helped to set up solar power generation units so that they can then sell those that which is being generated solar power to the grid and through the grid having given the power, solar power from their barren land they will be able to make a living out of their barren land also. Fourth of the sixteen, our government shall encourage balanced use of all kinds of fertilizers including the traditional organic and other innovative fertilizers. This is necessary step to change the prevailing incentive regime which encourages excessive use of chemical fertilizers. So this is an important point I would like to repeat it. This is a necessary step to change the prevailing incentive regime which encourages excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Honorable Speaker sir, in Tamil Nadu there was a very wise old woman saint poet who lived more than three thousand years ago and she had used every letter of the Tamil alphabet to teach children moral stories, not stories, moral lines. Each line was only three worded ones. They were very simple ones. They are called ati chudi written by avayar. Whilst talking about effective use of land, taking care of your land, removing weeds and making sure you tend to it properly, she had just used three words in a little sentence which says it all and that's exactly what our Prime Minister is aiming to achieve so that the farm lands are used with proper manure, not excessive manure and limited water to grow their grains. Bhumi tirutti un is the line from ati chudi which was said by a saint poet, a woman called avayar. Bhumi tirutti un. First tend to your land, take care that you're not excessively leaving it and then trying to take a crop out of it. So the fifth point out of my sixteen action points. India has an estimated capacity of 162 million metric tons of agri warehousing, cold storage, beef or van facilities and so on. Nabad will undertake an exercise to map and geotag them. In addition, we propose creating warehousing in line with Vero's development and regulatory authority, WDRA norms. Our government will provide viability gap funding for setting up such efficient warehouses in the block or taluk level. This can be achieved where states can facilitate with land and are on PPP mode. Food cooperation of India and central warehousing cooperation shall undertake such veros building on their own land too. Sixth action point. As a backward linkage, a village storage scheme is proposed to be run by SHGs. This will provide farmers a good holding capacity and reduce their logistics cost. Women SHGs can avail of Mudra or Nabad assistance and regain their position as Danya Lakshmi. We've heard of Danya Lakshmi often and many of us are familiar with Danya Lakshmi and I'm sure many of us do recall the days when women in the villages were the ones who kept the seed for the entire village and they would distribute seeds as and when a farmer required it. So we would like to restore women SHG groups to play that role or at the village level as Danya Lakshmi's being assisted by Mudra and being assisted by Nabad. To build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat and fish, the Indian railways will set up a Kisan rail through PPP arrangements. There shall be a refrigerated coaches in express and freight trains as well so that perishable goods can be quickly easily within the country transported and the benefit will accrue to the farmers. Krishi Udan will be launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, not just trains. Krishi Udan will be launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on international and national rules. This will immensely help improve value realization especially in northeast and in the tribal districts. Forty culture sector. Sir this is very important. Point number nine of the sixteenth, horticulture sector with its current produce. It's a very important point sir. Horticulture sector with its current produce of 311 million metric ton exceeds the production of food grains. Horticulture exceeds the production of food grains. For better marketing and export, we propose supporting states which adopting a cluster basis will focus on one product, one district. So that a high focus is given at the district level for products in horticulture to really gain that momentum. Tenth of the sixteen action points. Climate farming systems in rain-fed areas shall be expanded. Multi-tier cropping, bee keeping, solar pumps, solar energy production in non-cropping season will be added. Sir I had mentioned in my July budget, zero budget natural farming. That shall also be included in our activities. The portal on Jaibik Keti, online national organic products market will also be strengthened. So the next point. The eleventh, financing on negotiable warehousing receipts, ENWR, has already crossed more than 6000 crores. Financing on negotiable warehousing receipts. This will be integrated with E-national agriculture market, the electronics one. The next point is the twelfth of the sixteen, non-banking finance companies and cooperatives are active in the agriculture credit space. The nabad refinance scheme will be further expanded. Agricultural credit target for the year 2021 has been set at 15 lakh crores, 15 lakh crores. Agricultural credit availability. All eligible beneficiaries of PM Kisan will be covered under the KCC, Kisan credit card scheme. Thirteenth of the sixteen, our government intends to eliminate foot and mouth disease, brucellosis in cattle and also what is called the PPR in sheep, which is a French expression, sorry for those who know French, I'll try to pronounce, peste de petite ruminane, PPR in sheep and goat by 2025. So foot and mouth disease, brucellosis in cattle and also PPR in sheep and goat by 2025 will be eliminated. Coverage of artificial insemination shall be increased from the present 30% to 70%. Manrega would be dovetailed to develop fodder farms. Further we shall facilitate doubling of milk processing capacity from 53.5 million metric tons to 108 million metric tons by 2025, from 53.5 million metric tons of milk to 108 million metric tons by 2025. Fourteenth point, blue economy, our government proposes to put in place a framework for development, management and conservation of marine fishery resources. Fifteenth, youth in coastal areas benefit through fish processing and market. By 2022-23 I propose raising fish production to 200 lakh tons, propose raising fish production to 200 lakh tons, growing of algae, seaweed and cage culture will also be promoted. So this coming point is very important, our government will involve youth in fishery extension work through 3,477 Sagar Mitras and 500 fish farmer producer organizations. We hope the rural youth, particularly those who are in the coastal areas and inland fishing areas will work as Sagar Mitras and also form 500 fish farmer producer organizations. You know that we already have a farmer producer organization which is FPO, now we are expanding it to cover fish farmer producer organizations. Sixteenth and the last action point sir, under Deenbhaiyal and Tiyodhya Yojana for alleviation of poverty, 58 lakh SHGs have been mobilized. We shall further expand on SHGs in this regard too. Now for the fund allocation, for the 16 different steps that I have announced, they are being stated under two broad categories, they are being stated under two broad categories. For the sector comprising of agriculture, allied activities, irrigation and rural development, an allocation of 2.83 lakh crores has been made for 2020-21 and it is divided among other things for agriculture, irrigation and allied activities, 1.6 lakh crores. For rural development and Panchayati Raj, 1.23 lakh crores both put together, it is about 1.73 lakh, 2.83 lakh crores, 2.83 lakh crores. Wellness and water and sanitation is the second under aspirational India. I said my three themes, aspirational India, economic development and caring society. Under each, I state three which contain specific programs. Aspirational India, already I have mentioned about the rural development and so on, now I talk of wellness, water and sanitation. We have a holistic vision of health care that translates into wellness for citizens. Mission Indra Dhanush has been expanded to cover 12 such diseases including five new vaccines. Fit India movement is a vital part of fight against non-communicable diseases coming out of lifestyle issues. A very focused safe water, Jaljeevan mission and comprehensive sanitation program Swach Bharat mission have been launched to support the health vision that would reduce the disease burden on the poor. Presently under PM Jain Arogya Yojana there are more than 20,000 empaneled hospitals who help in Ayushman Bharat. We need more such hospitals to be empaneled in tier two and tier three cities for poor people in these areas to benefit from them. It is therefore proposed to set up a viability gap funding window for setting up hospitals in PPP mode. In the first phase, those aspirational districts will be covered. We know there are 112 of them. So those aspirational districts from 112 that we have where presently there are no Ayushman empaneled hospitals will be given priority. So from 112 of aspirational districts those which don't have an empaneled hospital for Ayushman treatments will be given the first priority so that in tier two and tier three we have more such hospitals. This would also provide large scale employment opportunities to youth. Proceeds from taxes on medical devices this is very interesting it has a bearing on what I will be saying during taxation the Part B. Proceeds from taxes on medical devices would be used to support this vital health infrastructure which will get built in the aspirational districts. Using machine learning and artificial intelligence in the Ayushman Bharat scheme, health authorities and the medical fraternity can target diseases with an appropriately designed preventive regime. TB Harega Desh Jitega, TB Harega Desh Jitega. This campaign has been launched. I propose to strengthen this campaign to realize our commitment to end tuberculosis by 2025. I propose to expand also Jan Aushadhi Kendra scheme to all districts offering 2000 medicines and 300 surgicals by 2024. I have provided for the health sector about 69,000 crores that is inclusive of 6,400 crores for Prime Minister Jan Aroge Yojana. So now the important point on sanitation our government is committed to ODF plus. We know ODF is already there launched successfully sort of covered saturation reached but our government is committed to ODF plus. In order to sustain ODF behavior because it has a lot of impact. If behavioral patterns don't remain consistent it can have a negative bearing. So our government is committed to ODF plus in order to sustain ODF behavior and to ensure that no one is left behind. Now more needs to be done towards liquid and grey water management. This would also be on solid waste collection, source segregation and processing. The total allocation for Swachh Bharat mission is about 12,300 crores for this year 2020-21. Aiming to provide piped water supply to all households, Prime Minister announced from the Red Fort the Jal Jeevan mission. Our government has approved 3.6 lakh crores for this mission. 3.6 zero lakh crores for this mission is being approved. This scheme also places emphasis on augmenting local water resources, recharging existing sources and will promote water harvesting and desalination. Cities over one million population will be encouraged to meet this objective during the current year itself. During the year 2021 this scheme would be provided a budget exclusively of 11,500 crores. So I now move to the third under aspirational India, education and skills. The third and the final item under aspirational India is education and skills. By 2030 India is said to have the largest working age population in the world. Not only do they need literacy but they need both job and life skills. Dialogues have been held with state education ministries, members of parliament and other stakeholders about education policy. Over two lakhs suggestions were also received. The new education policy will be announced soon. It is felt that our education system needs greater inflow of finance to attract talented teachers, innovate and build better labs. Therefore, steps would be taken to enable sourcing external commercial borrowings and FDI so as to deliver higher quality education. Students in general stream as opposed to those in services or technology stream, sciences and technology stream need their employment opportunities improved. About 150 higher education institutions will start upper enticeship embedded degree diploma courses by March 2021. The government proposes to start a program whereby urban local bodies across the country would provide internship opportunities to fresh engineers for a period up to one year. The local bodies as you know do undertake a lot of public work program and their manpower is also limited but yet young engineers who are ready to serve for the purpose of learning how it is to work with the government are also going around seeking opportunities. So here we have created an opportunity by saying urban local bodies should now give opportunity for fresh engineers so that they can help them plan better and in turn also learn as an intern under the local bodies. So this is for a period of one year that we've opened up. In order to provide quality education to students of deprived section of the society as well as those who do not have access to higher education, it is proposed to start a degree level full fledged online education program. This shall be offered only by institutions who are ranked within top 100 in the national institutional ranking framework. Initially only a few such institutions would be asked to offer such programs. So India should also be a preferred destination for higher education. Hence under its study in India program an IND SAT exam is proposed to be held in Asian and African countries. It shall be used for benchmarking foreign candidates who receive scholarships for studying in Indian higher education centers. A national police university and a national forensic science university are being proposed in the domain of policing science, forensic science and cyber forensics. There is a shortage of medical doctors. There is a shortage of qualified medical doctors, both general practitioners as well as specialists. In order to meet this requirement it is proposed to attach a medical college to an existing district hospital in PPP mode. Those states that fully allow facilities of the hospital to the medical college and wish to provide land at a concession would be able to receive viability gap funding from the center. Details of the scheme would be worked out soon. So we aim to have at the district level with hospitals which are being extended for medical college training and also for producing more doctors, viability gap funding will also be extended. So the national board of examination imparts PG medical qualification, diploma and fellow of national board DNB and FNB. The government will therefore encourage large hospitals with sufficient capacity to offer resident doctors the DNB and FNB courses under the national board of examinations. There exists a huge demand for teachers, nurses, paramedical staff and caregivers all abroad. There exists a huge demand abroad for teachers, nurses, paramedical staff and caregivers. However their skill sets many a time do not match the employer's standards and therefore need to be improved. I propose that a bridge, special bridge course be designed by the ministries of health, skill development together with professional bodies to bring in equivalence. Language requirements of various countries need also to be included. All these should be achieved through a special training package. Our government proposes to provide about 99,300 crores for education sector in 2021 and about 3,000 crores for skill development. So I move to the second theme, economic development, aspirational India, economic development and caring society. I am now talking on economic development and in economic development, industry, commerce and investment are the ones which come first in our. So the most important thing as an introduction I would like to say here, the guilds of Saraswati Sindhu civilization and the Harappan seals are remarkable, Saraswati Sindhu civilization is about 4,000 before the common era. They belong, the seals in particular belong to 3,300 BCE before the common era. Words from the Indus script which are all hieroglyphs have been deciphered. Words from those hieroglyphs have been deciphered. Learning words which we need to know when we are talking about commerce and industry. Commerce and trade related words show how India for a millennia has been a continuing civilization with rich skills in metallurgy, rich skills in trading and so on. Sreni is a word found in the Harappan seals which means guild. Seti is a word found in the Harappan seals which means wholesale merchant. Seti was a wholesale merchant in the Sindhu civilization, Saraswati Sindhu civilization. Koddar is an assayer of metal into treasury and also India is a continuing maritime power in terms of commerce and industry. Thakara Kholmi is using word which shows black smithery and also iron and tin smithery existed that time. So India's commerce, India's industry, India's trade in such materials which were all unique to India have existed and continues to exist over the millennia. So entrepreneurship has always been the strength of India. That's the point I wanted to explain. I'm sure many members already know it and therefore they are a bit restless. Entrepreneurship has always been the strength of India. Even today, young men and women have given up greener pastures elsewhere to contribute to India's growth. They are risk taking and come up with disruptive solutions to festering challenges. Equally established old industries are resetting themselves in a changing global domestic situation. Global and domestic situation. We recognize the knowledge, skills and risk taking capacities and capabilities of our youth. He's no longer a job seeker, he's a creator of jobs. Now we wish to create more opportunities and remove roadblocks from this path. I propose to set up an investment clearance cell that will provide end-to-end facilitation and support including pre-investment advisory, information related to land banks and facilitate clearances at the center and also in the state level. It will work through a portal. There is a case for maximizing the benefits of three separately developing economic activities. The upcoming economic corridors, revitalization of manufacturing activities and technology and the demands for aspirational classes. We have to benefit from their convergence, hence it is proposed to develop five new such smart cities in collaboration with states and in PPP mode. Such sites would be chosen that offer the best choices in terms of the aforementioned principles. India needs to manufacture networked products that will make it a part of global value chains. This in turn gets more investment and generates more employment for our youth. Electronics manufacturing industry is very competitive and India has shown its cost advantages. The potential of this industry in job creation is immense. India needs to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the electronics value chain. Here I propose a scheme focused on encouraging manufacture of mobile phones, electronic equipment and semiconductor packaging. The details will be announced soon. With suitable modifications, this scheme can be adapted for manufacturing of medical devices too. India sir imports significant quantity of technical textiles worth 16 billion US dollars every year. To reverse this trend and to position India as a global leader in technical textiles, a national technical textiles mission is proposed with a four year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24 at an estimated outlay of 1,480 crores. Honourable Speaker sir, Honourable Speaker sir, from the Red Fort our Prime Minister spoke about quality and standards when he spoke of zero defect, zero effect manufacturing. In September last year I had called for a time bound adoption by industry of all necessary mandatory technical standards and their effective enforcement. All ministries during the course of this year would be issuing quality standard order. In order to achieve higher export credit disbursement, a new scheme NIRVIC is being launched which provides for higher insurance cover, reduction in premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claim settlements. It is proposed to digitally refund to exporters. That was NIRVIC. I am coming to a different point now. It is proposed to digitally refund to exporters, duties and taxes levied at the centre, state and local levels such as electricity duties, VAT, the VAT on fuel used for transportation which are not getting exempted or refunded under any other existing mechanism. This scheme for reversion of duties and taxes on exported products will be launched from this year itself. Honourable Speaker, it is the vision of our Prime Minister that each district should develop as an export hub. Efforts of the centre and state governments are being synergised and institutional mechanisms are being created in order that every district becomes an export hub. Government e-marketplace GEM is moving ahead for creating a unified procurement system in the country for providing a single platform for procurement of goods, services and works. It offers a great opportunity for medium and small and micro enterprises. 3.24 lakh vendors are already on this platform. It is proposed to take its turnover to 3 lakh crores. I propose to provide about 27,300 crores for development and promotion of industry and commerce for the year 2020-2021. So under economic development, the second point that I want to focus on is a very important point and it is on infrastructure. Honourable Speaker, in his Independence Day speech of 2019, the Prime Minister has highlighted that 100 lakh crores would be invested on infrastructure for the next five years. As a follow-up measure, I had launched the National Infrastructure Pipeline on 31 December 2019 of 103 lakh crore worth projects. It consists of more than 6,500 projects across sectors and are classified as per their size and stage of development. These new projects will include housing, safe drinking water, access to clean and affordable energy, health care for all, world-class education institutions, modern railway stations, airports, bus terminals, metro, railway transportation, logistics and warehousing, irrigation projects, etc. The National Infrastructure Pipeline envisions improving the ease of living for each and every individual citizen in the country. It will also bring in generic and sectoral reforms in development, operation and maintenance of these infrastructure projects. A huge employment opportunity exists for India's youth in construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure. National Skill Development Agency will give special trust to infrastructure-focused skills and their development opportunities. I propose to set up a project preparation facility for infrastructure projects. This program would actively involve young engineers, management graduates and economists from our universities. It is also proposed to direct all infrastructure agencies of the government to involve youth power in start-ups. They will help in rolling out value-added services in quality public infrastructure for citizens. The National Logistics Policy will soon be released. Among other things, it will clarify the role of union government, state government and also the key regulators. It will create a single-window e-logistics market and focus on generation of employment skills and making MSMEs competitive. So also, accelerated development of highways will be undertaken. This will include development of 2,500-kilometre access control highways, 9,000-kilometres of economic corridors, 2,000-kilometres of coastal and land port roads and 2,000-kilometres of strategic highways. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and two other packages would be completed by 2023. Chennai-Bangluru Expressway would also be started. So the fast-track mechanism encourages us towards greater commercialization of our highways so that NHAI can raise more resources. I propose to monetize at least 12 lots of highway bundles of over 6,000-kilometres before 2024. In carrying out its duty, the Indian Railways performs a service to the nation. Within 100 days of assumption of this government, it has commissioned 550 Wi-Fi facilities in as many railway stations. It has eliminated unmanned level crossings and aims to achieve electrification of 27,000-kilometres of tracks. This will call, obviously, for optimization of costs. Railways has small operating surplus. About Indian railways, there are five measures, among other things, that I wish to highlight. Setting up a large solar-powered capacity. Setting up a large solar-powered capacity alongside the rail tracks on the land owned by railways. A proposal is under consideration. Four station redevelopment projects and operation of 150 passenger trains would be done through PPP MOVE. The process of inviting private participation is underway. More Tejas-type trains will connect iconic tourist destinations. High-speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would be actively pursued. 148-kilometre Bengaluru Suburban Transport project at a cost of 18,600 crore would have fares on metro model. Central government would provide 20% of the equity and it will also facilitate external assistance up to 60% of the project cost. Sir, our seaports need to be more efficient. Technology has to be used to improve performance. A governance framework keeping with global benchmarks needs to be put in place. This government would consider corporatizing at least one major port and subsequently its listing on the stock exchanges. Inland waterways received a boost. Inland waterways received a boost in the last five years. The JAL Vikas Mark on National Waterway 1 will be completed. Further, the 890-kilometre Dubri Sadiar connectivity in Assam will be done by 2022. Federal Speaker Sir, developing waterways has its impact on the ecosystem on both the banks of the river. Our Prime Minister has conceptualized Arth Ganga. Plans are afforded to energize economic activity along the river banks. Air traffic has been growing rapidly in the country as compared to global average. 100 more airports would be developed by 2024 to support the Wudanski. It is expected that the air fleet number shall go up from the present 600 to 1200 during this time itself. I propose to provide 1.7 lakh crores for transport infrastructure in 2021. Sir, taking electricity to every household has been a major achievement of this government. However, the distribution sector, particularly the discombs, are under financial stress. The ministry intends to promote smart metering. I urge all the states and union territories to replace conventional energy meters by prepaid smart meters in the next three years. Also, this would give consumers the freedom to choose the supplier and the rate as per their requirements. So this is a very important step in reaching electricity to all people. This would give consumers, the prepaid meters, the smart meters, would give consumers the freedom to choose the supplier and the rate as per their requirements. Further measure to reform the discombs would be taken. I propose to provide 22,000 crores to power and renewable energy sector for the year 2021. So now I come to oil and natural gas. In the upstream sector, oil and gas, the open acreage licensing policy OALP is a success having awarded 137,000 square kilometres for exploration to private sector and to the CPSCs. City gas distribution rights are also awarded. Further, it is proposed to expand the national gas grid from the present 16,200 kilometres. At the moment, it is 16,200 kilometres only. We propose to expand it to reach 27,000 kilometres. To deepen the gas markets in India, further reforms will be undertaken to facilitate transparent price discovery and also ease of transactions. So I come to talking about the new economy now. The new economy is based on innovations that disrupt established business models. Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, 3D printing, drones, DNA, data storage, quantum computing, etc. Are all rewriting the world economic order? India has already embraced a new paradigm such as the sharing economy with aggregator platforms displacing conventional businesses. Government has harnessed new technologies to enable direct-benefit transfers and financial inclusion on a scale like never before. It's now a cliché, data is the new oil. And it is true that analytics, fintech and Internet of Things are changing the way we deal with our lives. To take advantage of this, I propose to bring out soon a policy to enable private sector to build data centre parks throughout the country. Building data centre parks throughout the country. It will enable our firms to skillfully incorporate data in every step of their value chains. Our vision is that all public institutions at the Gram Panchayat level, such as Angan bodies, health and wellness centres, government schools, PDS outlets, post offices and police stations will all be provided with digital connectivity. So the fibre-to-home FTTH connections through Bharat Net will link 100,000 Gram Panchayats this year itself. One lakh Gram Panchayats this year itself will be connected to the optical fibre FTTH program. It is proposed therefore to provide 6,000 crores to Bharat Net program 2020-21. We need to expand the base for knowledge-driven enterprises. Intellectual property creation and protection will play an important role. Digital measures are proposed in this regard, which will benefit the start-ups. A digital platform would be promoted that would facilitate seamless application and capture IPRs. Also in an institute of excellence, a centre would be established that would work on the complexity and innovation in the field of intellectual property. Digital speakers, knowledge translation clusters would be set up across the different technology sectors including new and emerging sectors for designing, fabrication and validation of proof of concept and further scaling up technology clusters harboring such testbeds and small-scale manufacturing facilities would be established. Development of India's genetic landscape is critical for next-generation medicine, agriculture and for biodiversity management. To support this development, we will initiate two national-level science schemes to create a comprehensive database. The government proposes to provide early-life funding, including seed fund, to support ideation and development of early-stage start-ups. So critical to our quantum technology. Quantum technology is opening up new frontiers in computing, communications, cyber-security with widespread applications. It is expected that a lot of commercial applications would emerge from theoretical constructs which are developing in this area. It is proposed to provide an outlay of 8,000 crores over a period of five years for the national mission on quantum technologies and applications. India would probably be the third, biggest and pioneering nation if we are able to break into this technology of quantum technology related to computing and other applications. Sir, I come to the third theme, the last theme in my part A, after which of course I will speak of a few other, caring society. In our third theme, we focus on women and child, social welfare, culture and tourism and also on environment and climate change. Women and child and social welfare, sir. I am pleased to inform the House that Beti Bachao Beti Padau has yielded tremendous results. Gross enrollment. Sir, if you hear the data, if you hear the data, I think it's important not to politicize issues related to women. Beti Bachao Beti Padau has yielded tremendous results. The gross enrollment ratio of girls across all levels of education is now higher than boys. Elementary level, it is 94.32% as against 89.28% for boys. At secondary level, it is 81.32% as compared to 78% for boys. At higher secondary level, girls have achieved a level of 59.70% compared to only 57.54% for boys. So girls are actually under Beti Padau benefiting from the scheme. Nutrition is the critical component of health. Two nutritional status of children, zero to six years. Adolescent girls, pregnant women, cutting mothers. Minister launched a portion of beyond in 2017-18. More than six lakhs Angan body workers are equipped with smartphones to upload the nutritional status of more than 10 crore households. To improve the national nutritional status of children, children in zero to six years of age, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers, our Prime Minister launched a portion of beyond in 2017-18. More than six lakh Angan body workers are equipped with smartphones to upload the nutritional status of more than 10 crore households. The scale of this development is unprecedented. So the next is women's age of marriage was increased from 15 years to 18 years in 1978 by amending erstwhile Sharda Act of 1929. As India progresses further, opportunities open up for women to pursue higher education and careers. There are imperatives of lowering MMR, maternal mortality rate, as well as improvement of nutrition levels. Entire issue of about age of girl entering motherhood needs also to be seen in this light. I propose to appoint a task force that will present its recommendations in six months time. I propose to provide 35,600 crores for nutrition related programs for the financial year 2020-2021. So in continuing with our government's commitment to welfare of women, this budget provides for about 28,600 crores for programs that are specific to women. Our government is determined that there shall be no manual cleaning of sewer systems or septic tanks. Suitable technologies for such tasks have been identified by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The ministry is working with urban local bodies for the adoption of these technologies. We will now take this to its logical conclusion. We will now take this to its logical conclusion through legislative and institutional changes. Financial support for wider acceptance of such technologies will be provided. In furthering this government's commitment towards the welfare of schedule cash and other backward classes, I propose a budget provision of about 85,000 crores for 2020-21 for schedule cash and other backward classes. I repeat, I propose a budget provision of about 85,000 crores for 2020-21. In furthering the development and welfare of scheduled tribes, I provide in the budget for the year 2020-21 an amount of 53,700 crores. For scheduled tribes, I repeat, we provide 53,700 crores. This government is mindful of the concerns of senior citizens and the beyond. Accordingly, an enhanced allocation of about 9,500 crores is being provided for 2020-21. So now I move to the second of the third topic theme that I have, which is culture and tourism. Our government proposes to establish an Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under Ministry of Culture. It shall have the status of a deemed university to start with. Acquisition of knowledge and disciplines such as museology and archaeology are essential for collecting and analyzing scientific evidence of such findings and for dissemination through high quality museums. Currently, lack of trained manpa is a handicap for both these disciplines and therefore it also has a negative impact on tourism. Five archaeological sites would be developed as iconic sites with on-site musics. They are Rakhi Gadi, Haryana, Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh, Shiv Sagar in Assam, Dolavira, Gujarat, Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu. Our Prime Minister, in January 2020, announced recuration of the Indian Institute of Heritage in Tamil Nadu. He said that he would not be allowed to enter Tamil Nadu. He said that he would not be allowed to enter Tamil Nadu. He said that he would not be allowed to enter Tamil Nadu. Our Prime Minister, in January 2020, announced recuration of the Indian Museum in Kolkata, which is the oldest in the country. In the historic old mint building Kolkata, a museum on numismatics and trade will also be located. Four more museums from across the country shall be taken up for renovation and recuration so that a world-class experience can be offered to our visitors. Our government shall also support setting up of a tribal museum in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Sir, I spoke about the Sindhu Saraswati civilization. A maritime museum would be set up at Lothal, the Harappan Age maritime site near Amdabad by the Ministry of Shipping. I propose to provide 3,150 crore for Ministry of Culture for the year 2021. Sir, India has moved up from the rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index, the World Economic Forum's index. Foreign exchange earnings grew 7.4% to 1.88 lakh crores for the period January to November 2019 from 1.75 lakh crores. From 1.75 lakh crores it has gone up to 1.88 lakh crores. Growth of tourism directly relates to growth and employment. States have a critical role to play. I expect the state governments to develop a roadmap for certain identified destinations and formulate financial plans during 2021 against which specified grants will be made available to the states from the center in the year 2020-21. For purpose of tourism promotion, sir, I propose to allocate 2,500 crores for 2020-2021. So I now move to the third under this theme, Environment and Climate Change. In September 2019, the Prime Minister has launched the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure with its secretariat in Delhi. This global partnership is the second such initiative, international initiative, after the launch of, as members would recall, International Solar Alliance. That was in 2015. This global partnership will help in addressing a number of sustainable development goals as also the aims of Sendai framework. It will enhance climate change adaptation with a focus on disaster resilient infrastructure. India submitted its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement in 2015 on a best-effort basis. Keeping in mind the development imperative of our country. Its implementation effectively begins from 1st January 2021. Our commitments as action will be executed in various sectors. Honourable Speaker, I interrupt here only to say this is a very important point because a lot of our commitments which have been given in the Paris Climate Change Conference on best-effort basis will start kicking in from 1st January 2021. Our commitments as action will be executed in various sectors by the departments and ministries concerned through a normal budget process. They will do it through the normal budgeting process. There are however yet thermal power plants that are old and the carbon emission levels are very high. For such power plants we propose that utilities running them would be advised to close them if their emission is above the preset norms. The land so vacated can be put to alternative uses. In large cities having population above 1 million, clean air is a matter of concern. I'm sure a lot of our members will be keen to know about what steps are being taken for cities and clean air. The government proposes Honourable Speaker to encourage such states that are formulating and implementing plans for ensuring cleaner air in cities above 1 million. Parameters for the incentives would be notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Allocation for this purpose is 4,400 crores for 2020-2021. So there is something which before I moved to talking about governance because the three themes that I put before the members is coming to a close. I fall back on the wise words of Thiruvalluvar. And this it's very important sir. We've heard several words of wisdom from Thiruvalluvar. Thiruvalluvar has spoken about what a good country is. What a good country is actually got to be like. And what makes up for jewels of a good country? I first read it in Tamil then I'll give you the meaning. Pini in mine, selvam, vilayinvam, aimam. Pini in mine, selvam, vilayinvam, aimam. Ani en ver, natin vayindu. Ani en ver, natin vayindu. There are five what Thiruvalluvar says which are jewels for a good country. The first is pini in mine meaning you the country will have to be without epidemics or illnesses, major illnesses. The second he says it should be wealthy. It should have wealth, it should have wealth, vilayinvam, it should also have vilayinvam. In the sense from the fields it should have good crop, it should have inbam, it should have happiness. It also should have aimam which is security and safety of the country. Jewels, jewels. Pini in mine, selvam, vilayinvam, aimam. And inbam. Prime Minister Modi. Prime Minister Modi. Ayushman Bharat. Ayushman Bharat for health for all. Pini in mine. Creators will be respected in this country. Wealth creators will be respected in this country. Selvam Kisan. Doubling of income, use of fertilizers and properties to surplus in horticulture, surplus in tilhan, surplus now probably also in dalhan. So the Prime Minister's program at health, at creating and giving respect for wealth creators and improving agricultural output and looking at ease of living, bringing happiness to people. This country is national security. You have enough proof to say national security is the top priority of this government. If there are five jewels for a good country, those five jewels are the ones which Prime Minister Modi is now addressing through his programs. Ayushman for wealth creators are respectable on honorable climate, good crops, happiness through ease of living and national security. So now with all that said, the bouquet of flowers which I would like to give every citizen with trust and faith, with trust and faith, aspirational India, had aspirational India, a set of flowers and aspirational India, had set of flowers and environment and economy and also commerce and industry. A third set of flowers was under the caring India, caring society that we want to have. Now this bouquet of flower is held by two hands, governance and other financial institutions. I speak about governance, sir, which is very important. Good governance is what is going to be giving faith to the people. Honourable speakers, all the while I have explained the colour and composition of the bouquet of flowers, schemes and programs. They were grouped under aspirational India, economic development and caring India. Now I speak about the two hands that will hold them. One such hand is governance which is clean, corruption free, policy driven and good in its intent. Most importantly, trusting in faith, trusting every citizen, the aspirational youth, the hardworking women, the citizen, I repeat, trusting every citizen, the aspirational youth, ever hopeful and untiring farmer or the wise and old senior citizen. Many among them are taxpayers. Others may not be taxpayers now. Our Prime Minister has laid before us ease of living as a goal to be achieved on behalf of all citizens. An important aspect of both ease of living and ease of doing business is fairness, efficiency of tax administration. We wish to enshrine, this is important, Honourable Speaker. This is important, sir, money being allocated to various programs is finance of this country. This is very important, sir. Businesses should have the confidence that things are being fair and the efficiency of the tax administration. We wish to enshrine in the statutes a taxpayer charter through this budget. A taxpayer's charter is getting institutionalized into these statutes. It's going to be enshrined as a part of our laws. That's building trust. A taxpayer's statutes will be a part of our, a taxpayer's charter will be a part of our statutes. Our government would like to reassure taxpayers that we remain committed to taking measures so that our citizens are free from harassment of any kind. We mean it and we are willing to put it in the law. Tax harassment cannot be tolerated when we are talking about citizens and wealth collectors. There has been, there has been a debate about building into statutes criminal liability for acts that are civil in nature. Hence for Companies Act, certain amendments are proposed to be made that will correct this. Similarly, other laws would also be examined where such provisions exist and attempts would be made to correct them also. The government intends to take measures to protect the citizens. Such provisions exist and attempts would be made to correct them also. The government intends to introduce major reforms in recruitment to non-guesseted posts in governments and public sector banks. At present candidates have to appear for multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies at different points of time for similar posts. This place is enormous burden on time effort and cost of young people, cost for young people. To mitigate the hardship so faced, it is proposed to set up a national recruitment agency as an independent professional specialist organization for conduct of computer based online common eligibility test for recruitment to non-guesseted posts. A test center in every district particularly in the aspirational districts would be set up. For the speedy disposal of commercial and other disputes, government has constituted various tribunals and specialized bodies. It is proposed to evolve a robust mechanism for appointment including direct recruitment to these bodies to attract best talents and professional experts. A stable and predictable business environment is a key objective of this government. There is also a strong argument for ensuring that contracts are honored. India has a sound framework related to contracts act. We shall deliberate upon strengthening it. There is a growing need sir for Indian statistical system to meet the challenges of real time monitoring of our increasingly complex economy. Data must have strong credibility. The proposed new national policy on official statistics would use latest technology including artificial intelligence. It would lay down a roadmap towards modernized data collection, integrated information portal and a timely dissemination of information thus collected. I am happy to inform that India will host G20 presidency in the year 2022. That is the year of 75th anniversary of independence of the Indian nation. During this presidency, India would be able to drive considerably the global economic and development agenda. For this historic occasion, I allocate a sum of 100 crore to begin the preparations. 100 crore rupees. Sir, North Eastern region has a very high priority in government's developmental agenda. Government is ensuring smooth access to financial assistance from multilateral and bilateral funding agencies to help introduce innovative and global best practices. Central government has effectively used an online portal to reduce gestation period of online. This has improved the flow of funds to the north-east region. The government is fully committed to supporting the all-round development of the newly formed union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and the union territory of Ladakh. Accordingly, an amount of 30,757 crore has been provided for the financial year 2020-21. An amount of 5,958 crore has been provided for the union territory of Ladakh. So that was one hand which is governance. Now I come to the other which is the financial sector. If governance was described as one of the pair of the hands holding the bouquet consisting of aspirational India, economic development and caring India, the other is the financial sector. A clean, reliable, robust financial sector is critical to the economy. A clean, reliable and robust financial sector is critical to the economy. In our efforts to achieve the US $5 trillion economy, the financial architecture should evolve. The financial architecture should keep evolving and move from strength to strength. We had earlier approved consolidation of 10 banks into 4. In the last few years the government of India has infused about 350,000 crores by way of capital into public sector banks for both regulatory and growth purposes. Governance reforms would be carried out in these banks so that they become more competitive. A few among them will be encouraged to approach capital market to raise additional capital. Sir, I wish to inform this August House that robust mechanism is in place to monitor the health of all schedule commercial banks and that depositor's money is absolutely safe. Further, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation has been permitted to increase the number of deposits in the country. I wish to inform this August House that robust mechanism is in place to monitor the health of all schedule commercial banks and that depositors money is absolutely safe. Further, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation has been permitted to increase deposit insurance coverage for a depositor which is now standing at 1 lakh of rupees to 5 lakh per depositor. Sir, the insurance cover for a depositor is at 1 lakh now, now we are raising it to 5 lakh for each depositor. Sir, to strengthen the cooperative banks, amendments to the Banking Regulation Act are proposed for increasing professionalism, enabling access to capital and improving governance and oversight for sound banking through the RBI. The limit for NBFCs to be eligible for debt recovery under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest under the Surface Act 2002 is proposed to be reduced from 500 crores to asset size 100 crores only or loan size from existing 1 crore to 50 lakhs. Therefore, we feel many of the small NBFCs which can come for debt recovery would be far easily done for smaller companies. In the last few years, the government has taken concrete steps to bring our banking system to be robust. However, there is a need for greater private capital. Accordingly, it is proposed to sell the balanced holding of Government of India's IDBI Bank to private retail and institutional investors through the stock exchange. There is a need, sir, to take further steps to bring in transparency and greater professionalism in public sector banks. The government will take appropriate measures towards this end. Sir, to help easy mobility, widen jobs, we wish to infuse into the universal pension coverage with auto-enrollment. Also, we wish to place such mechanisms which can enable interoperability and provide safeguards for the accumulated office. Regulating role of PFRDAI, which is the pension regulatory body, requires strengthening. Necessary amendments would be carried out in Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority of India Act that will also facilitate separation of NPS trust for Government employees from the PFRDAI. This would also enable establishment of a pension trust by the employees other than from the government. I am confident that this will motivate citizens to plan for their old age. Sir, this section, which I will now speak, will relate to the MSMEs. MSMEs are vital to keep the wheels of our economy moving. They also create jobs, innovate, and also risk takers, and they are risk takers. Several measures for the MSMEs have been taken in the past few years. There are more steps proposed in this budget also. I propose to make necessary amendments to the Factor Regulation Act 2011. This will enable NBFCs to extend invoice financing to the MSMEs through treads, thereby enhancing the economic and financial sustainability. Working capital to credit remains a major issue for the MSMEs. It is proposed to introduce a scheme to provide subordinate debt for entrepreneurs of MSMEs. This subordinate debt to be provided by banks would count as quasi-equity and would be fully guaranteed through the credit guarantee trust for medium and small entrepreneurs. The corpus of the CGT MSC would accordingly be augmented by the government. More than 5 lakh MSMEs have benefited from restructuring of debt permitted by RBI in the last year. The restructuring window was to end on 31st March 2020. Government has asked RBI to consider extending this window till 31st March 2021, one more year, so that whoever wants, they can go and approach. An app based in voice financing loans product will be launched. This will obviate the problem of delayed payments and consequential cash flow mismanages for the MSME. Many mid-sized companies are successful domestically, but not in export markets. For selected sectors such as pharmaceuticals, auto components and others, we propose to extend hand-holding support for technology upgradations, R&D, business strategy planning and so on. A scheme of 1,000 crore rupees will be anchored in the XSIM bank together with the SIDB. Both these institutions would contribute 50 crores each. This 100 crore would be achieved towards equity and technical assistance. Debt funding of 900 crores from banks would be made available. Sir, financial markets. I would like to give a few of the major steps and initiatives being taken by the government for the financial markets. Last year in my budget speech, I had mentioned about deepening the bond markets. To achieve the aspirational growth rate, we would require flow of capital in our financial system. A lot of work has been done on this in consultation with the RBI. Honourable Speaker Sir, I am pleased to inform this House of the Developments. Certain specified categories of government securities would be open fully for non-resident investors, apart from being available to domestic investors also. The limit for FBI-incorporate bonds currently at 9% of outstanding stocks will be increased to 15% of the outstanding stock of corporate bonds. To improve investors' confidence and to expand the scope of credit default swaps, we propose to formulate a legislation to be placed soon before this House for laying down a mechanism for netting of financial contracts. The debt-based exchange traded fund, the ETF, recently floated by the government was a big success. The government proposes to expand this by floating a new debt ETF consisting primarily of government securities. This will give retail investors access to government securities as much as giving an attractive investment for pension funds and long-term investors. So to address the liquidity constraints of the NBFCs and the HFCs, this was very much talked about between July and December last year, Sir, 2019, liquidity constraints was very frequently mentioned to us. So to address liquidity constraints of the NBFCs and the housing finance corporations, post the Union Budget 2019-20, the government formulated a partial credit guarantee scheme for the NBFCs. To further the support of providing liquidity, a mechanism would be devised. Government will offer support by guaranteeing securities that are so floated. Infrastructure financing, government's commitment for investment in infrastructure was reiterated when 103 lakh crore national infrastructure pipeline products were announced. I would also like to inform that about 22,000 crores of rupees has already been provided as support for infrastructure pipeline. On December 31st, if honourable members would recall, the national pipeline consisting of more than 6,500 projects were announced. 22,000 crore has already been provided as support to infrastructure pipeline. This would cater for equity support to infrastructure finance companies such as the IIFCL and a subsidiary which is of NIIF. So two institutions IIFCL and the subsidiary of NIIF take it. They would leverage it as permissible to create financing pipeline of more than 1 lakh crores. This would create a major source of long-term debt financing for infrastructure projects and fulfill a long-awaited requirement. So the IIFCL gift city has the potential to become a centre of international finance as well as a centre for high-end data processing. Gift IIFCL has an approved free trade zone for housing vaults. It already has 19 insurance entities, 40 banking entities. It has also provided for setting up of precious metals, testing laboratories for them and refining facilities also. With approval of the regulator, gift city would now set up an international bullion exchange in gift city IFSC as an additional option for trade by global market participants. This will enable India to enhance its position worldwide, create jobs in India and will lead to better price discovery of gold. Sir, in the recent years there has been a surge in trading volumes of Indian rupee in the offshore financial centres. The government and the RBI has taken various measures to permit rupee derivatives to be traded in the International Financial Services Centre at gift city Gujarat. So just a very quick word on disinvestment. Listing of companies on stock exchanges brings discipline and it disciplines the company and provides access to financial markets and unlocks its value. It also gives opportunity for retail investors to participate in the wealth so created. The government now proposes to sell a part of its holding in the LIC by way of initial public offer. Initial public offer. Sir, fiscal management. The 15th Finance Commission has given its first report pertaining to financial year 2020-2021. In the spirit of cooperative federalism, I am pleased to announce that we have in substantial measure, accepted the recommendations of the Commission. The Commission would submit its final report to the President during the latter part of the year for five years beginning 2020-21-22. It has decided to transfer to the GST Compensation Fund balances due to due out of the collection of the years 2016-17 and 17-18 in two installments. Hereinafter, transfers to the Fund would be limited only to the collection by way of GST Compensation SESS. A fundamental overall of centrally sponsored schemes and central sector schemes is necessary so that we can align them with emerging social and economic needs of tomorrow and to ensure that scarce public resources are spent optimally. Recently there has been a debate over transparency and credibility of the projected fiscal numbers. Let me assure the House that the procedure adopted is compliant with the FRBM Act. This is also consistent with the practices heathed to followed. However, for greater clarity, I have enumerated those central government debt that are not part of the market borrowing and are used to fund the expenditure at the annex. I would like to repeat this line, sir. I would like to repeat this line, sir. For greater clarity, for greater clarity, I have enumerated those central government debts that are not part of market borrowing and are used to fund the expenditure at the annex. Servicing of interest, servicing of interest and repayment of these debts, servicing of interest and repayment of these debts as hitherto done are done out of consolidated fund of India. So now I come to some numbers. Revised estimates of expenditure for the financial year 2019-20 are at a level of 26.99 lakh crores and the receipts are estimated at 19.32 lakh crores. We have estimated nominal growth of GDP for the year 2020-21 on the basis of trends available at 10%. Let me finish this. The nominal growth of GDP for year 2020-21 on the basis of trends available at 10%. Accordingly, receipts for the year 2020-21 are estimated at 22.46 lakh crores and keeping in mind commitment of the government towards various schemes and the need for improvement of the quality of life, level of expenditure has been kept at 30.42 lakh crores. Sir, during the year, government has unfailingly worked towards keeping up capital expenditure. Actually, there is substantial enhancement. All the flagship schemes of the government have been fully provided for. Details may be seen in the annexes to the printed copy of my speech. Every budget must appropriately address the issue of fiscal deficit. Every budget must appropriately address the issue of fiscal deficit. Recently, government has undertaken very significant tax reforms for boosting investment. However, expected tax buoyancy will take time. We estimate a fiscal deficit of 3.8% in RE 2019-20 and 3.5% for BE 2020-2021. This estimation is consistent with the government's abiding commitment to macroeconomic stability. And it comprises of A, 3.3% for year 2019-20 and 3% for the 2020-2021 budget estimate and B, section 4-2 of the FRBM Act, which provides for a trigger mechanism for a deviation from the estimated fiscal deficit on account of structural reforms in the economy with unanticipated fiscal implications. Therefore, I have taken a deviation of 0.5% consistent with the section 4-3 of the FRBM Act, both for RE 2019-20 and BE 2020-21. Accordingly, the return path is being laid before the parliament as a part of the medium-term fiscal policy comes strategy statement. This fiscal path commits us to the path of fiscal consolidation without compromising the needs of investment out of public funds. Accordingly, net market borrowings for the year 2019-20 would be 4.99 lakh crore and for the year 2020-21, it would be 5.36 lakh crores. A good part, this is very important, sir, a good part of the borrowings of the financial year 2020-21 would go towards capital expenditure of the government that has been scaled up by more than 21%. As I had previously mentioned, another about 22,000 crores have already been allocated for equity to fund certain specified infrastructure finance companies who would leverage it, manifold and provide much needed long-term finance for infrastructure sector. That should spur the growth impulses in the economy. So I would now move to Part B of my speech. Direct tax. No, thanks. Sir, Part B of my speech starts with direct tax, sir. Honourable Speaker, sir, our government has spearheaded radical fiscal measures to ensure that Indian economy continues to tread the path of high growth. There are times when countries are competing with each other like never before to become the most attractive destination for doing business. Therefore, to make sure that India stays globally competitive and a favoured destination for investment, we took a bold historic decision of reducing the corporate tax rate for new companies in the manufacturing sector to an unprecedented level of 15%. Similarly, for the existing companies, the rate has also been brought down to 22%, which is the lowest in the world now. This will enable companies to expand their businesses and make fresh investments in the coming future. Though we will have loss of substantial revenue due to these measures in the short run, I am certain that our economy will reap huge returns on this score in due course. So, one quick verse from Ragu Vamsa, written by Kali Dasam. Prajanam eva boot yartham sattabyo balim aggraheet. Prajanam eva boot yartham sattabyo balim aggraheet. Sahasra gunam voot srashtam aadatte hi rasam ravihi. Surya, the son, collects vapor from little drops of water. He collects only from little drops of water. So does the king. They give back copiously. They collect these from the people only for their well-being. So the connection of taxes or the vapor from the water drops are only from small trickles, but they all go back to the people manifold. So the purpose of taxation and also the way in which it is done has been voiced even then. And this in Ragu Vamsa refers to the poor or the elders belonging to Ikshwaku dynasty, father of Ayodhya Pathy Rama, Dilip, grandfather. It refers to Dilip the king. So in continuation of the reform measures already taken so far, the tax proposals in this budget will introduce further reforms to stimulate growth, simplify tax structure, bring ease of compliance and reduce litigation. Personal income tax and simplification of taxation. So in the interim budget of 2019, a government exempted individuals having income up to 5 lakhs of rupees from paying any income tax. Presently, an individual pays 20% on income between 5 lakhs and 10 lakhs and 30% on income between 10 lakhs. That's the prevailing matrix. Further, currently the income tax act is riddled with various exemptions and deductions which make compliance by the taxpayer and administration of income tax act by the tax authorities a burdensome process. It is almost impossible for a taxpayer to comply with income tax law without taking the help from professionals. In order to provide significant relief to the individual taxpayers and to simplify the income tax law, I propose to bring a new simplified personal income tax regime wherein income tax rates will be significantly reduced for the individual taxpayers who forego certain deductions and exemptions. Under the new regime, sir, an individual shall be required to pay tax at the reduced rate of 10% for the income between 5 lakhs to 7.5 lakhs against the prevailing 20%. So anyone who is earning between 5 to 7.5 lakhs, sir, today pays 20%. We are now reducing it in the new regime which is devoid of exemptions to 10% only. So 20% comes down to 10%. Here the next example. For income between 7.5 lakhs to 10 lakhs, I earlier said about 5 to 7.5. Now I am saying about 7.5 to 10 lakhs. So for income between 7.5 lakhs to 10 lakhs, he or she will pay at the reduced rate of 15% only against the current prevailing 20%. Sir, similarly for the income between 10 lakhs to 12.5 lakhs presently the tax is 30%. For income between 10 lakhs to 12.5 lakhs, the present prevailing rate is 30%. That is now being brought down to 20% only. Sir, the income between, I spoke about 10 to 12.5 lakhs. Now 12.5 lakhs to 15 lakhs will be taxed. At the moment 12.5 to 15 lakhs is taxed at 30%. Now those earning between 12.5 lakhs to 15 lakhs will be charged at 25% only. Incomes above 15 lakhs will be continued at 30%. But no exemptions at all. Those earning up to 5 lakhs shall not pay any tax either in the old regime or in the new regime. So the proposed tax structure will provide significant relief to taxpayers and more so to those in the middle class. I just want to very clearly read out 0 to 2.5 lakhs exempt now will be exempt in the new scheme also. 2.5 lakhs to 5 lakhs, 5% now will be 5% in the new tax rate. 5 to 7.5 lakhs, 20% now will become 10% in the new rate. 7.5 to 10 lakhs, 20% now will be 15% in the new. 10 to 12.5 lakhs, 30% now will now come to 20%. 12.5 to 15 lakhs, 30% now 25% in the new rate. Above 15 continues at 30%. In the new tax regime, sir, substantial tax benefit will accrue to a taxpayer depending upon the exemptions and deductions claimed by him. For example, just to make it clear, for example, a person earning 15 lakhs of rupees in a year and not availing any deductions whatsoever will pay 1,95,000 as compared to 2,73,000 that he's paying now in the old regime. So this his tax burden shall be reduced by 78,000 rupees. That will be the reduction in the tax that he has to otherwise pay. Then this is the example of somebody who earns 15 lakhs. He would still be a gainer. He would still be a gainer in the new regime even if he was taking deduction of 1.5 lakh under various sections of Chapter 6A of the Income Tax Act under the old regime. The new tax regime, sir, shall be optional for taxpayers so there's no compulsion. Those who want to be in the old regime can continue to be in the old regime, in the old rates, in the old sets of exemptions and deductions. But those who wish to come into the new are welcome to come into the new. An individual who's currently availing more deductions and exemptions under the Income Tax Act may choose to avail them and continue to pay the tax in the old regime. A new personal tax income rates, income tax rates will entail estimated revenue for gone of 40,000 crores per year. We have also initiated measures to pre-fill income tax return so that an individual who opts for the new regime would need no assistance from an expert to file his return and pay income tax. Sir, I will have to put this observation here. In order to simplify income tax system, I have reviewed all the exemptions and deductions which got incorporated in the income tax legislation over the past several decades. In fact, I have that list with me, sir. I have reviewed all the exemptions and deductions which got incorporated in the income tax legislation over the past several decades. It was surprising to know that currently more than 100 exemptions and deductions of different nature are provided in the Income Tax Act. No wonder the code is like this, the book. I have removed around 70 of them. I have removed around 70 of them in the new simplified regime. We will review and rationalize the remaining exemptions and deductions in the coming years with a view to further simplifying the tax system and lowering tax rates. Sir, the dividend distribution tax. Currently, companies are required to pay dividend distribution tax. On the dividend paid to its shareholders, at the rate of 15% plus applicable surcharge and cess in addition to the tax payable by the company on its profits. It has been argued that the system of levying DDT results in increase in tax burden for investors and especially those who are liable to pay tax less than the rate of DDT if the dividend income is included in their income. Further, non-availability of credit of DDT to most of the foreign investors in their home country results in reduction of rate of return on equity capital for them. In order to increase the attractiveness of the Indian equity market and to provide relief to a large class of investors, I propose to remove the DDT and adopt the classical system of dividend distribution tax under which companies would not be required to pay DDT. The dividend shall be taxed only in the hands of the recipients at their applicable rates. Further, in order to remove the cascading effect, I also propose to allow deduction for the dividend received by holding company from its subsidiary. The removal of DDT will lead to estimated annual revenue foregone of 25,000 crores. This is another bold move, sir, which will further make India an attractive destination for investment. Sir, concessional rate for electricity generation companies. In order to give boost to the manufacturing sector, new provisions were introduced in September 2019, offering a concessional corporate tax rate of 15% to the newly incorporated domestic companies in the manufacturing sector, which start manufacturing by March 31st, 2023, the corporate rate cut which happened in September. In order to attract investment in power sector, I propose to extend the concessional corporate tax rate cut to down to 15% to new domestic companies engaged in the generation of electricity as well, so that corporate rate which came down to 15% for the new manufacturing companies will now be available even for power generation companies too. Sir, tax concession for foreign investments. In order to incentivize the investment by foreign sovereign wealth funds of foreign governments in the priority sector, I propose to grant 100% tax exemption to their interest dividend and capital gains income in respect of investment made in infrastructure and other notified sectors before 31st March 2024 with a minimum lock-in period of three years. Honorable Speaker, in order to make available foreign funds at lower cost, I propose to extend the period of concessional withholding rate of 5% under Section 194 LC for interest payment to non-residents in respect of monies borrowed and bonds issued up to 30th June 2023. I also propose to extend the period up to 30th June 2023 for lower rate of withholding of 5% under Section 194 LD for interest payment to foreign portfolio investors and qualified foreign investors in respect of bonds issued by Indian companies and government securities. I further propose to extend the concessional rate of withholding of 5% under Section 194 LD to the interest payment made on the municipal bonds. In order to incentivize listing of bonds at IFSC Exchange, I propose to further reduce the withholding rate from 5% to 4% on interest payment on the bonds listed on its exchanges. Startups. Startups have emerged as an engine of growth for our economy. Over the past year, our government has taken several measures to handhold them and support their growth. During their formative years, startups generally use employees' stock option plan, the ESOP, to attract and retain highly talented employees. ESOP is a significant component of compensation for these employees. Currently, ESOPs are taxable as perquisites at the time of exercise. This leads to cash flow problem for the employees who do not sell the shares immediately and continue to hold the same for long term. In order to give a boost to the startup ecosystem, I propose to ease the burden of taxation on the employees by deferring the tax payment by 5 years or till they leave the company or when they sell their shares, whichever is the earliest. Further, an eligible startup having turnover of up to 25 crores is allowed a deduction of 100% of its profits for three consecutive assessment years out of seven years. If the total turnover does not exceed 25 crore rupees, in order to extend this benefit to larger startups also, I propose to increase the turnover limit from existing 25 crores to 100 crores. Moreover, considering the fact that in the initial years, a startup may not have adequate profit to avail this deduction, I propose to extend the period of eligibility for claim of deduction from the existing seven years to 10 years. So the corporate rate cut in September has led to a lot of cooperatives who are asking for level playing field. Corporative societies play an extremely important role in economy, in facilitating access to credit, procurement of inputs and marketing of products to their members. These cooperatives are currently taxed at the rate of 30% with surcharge and ses. As a major concession and in order to bring parity between cooperative societies and corporates, I propose to provide an option to the cooperative societies to be taxed at 22% plus 10% surcharge and 4% ses with no exemption or deductions. Further, I also propose to exempt these cooperative societies from alternative minimum tax, the AMT, just like companies under the new tax regime are exempted from minimum and alternative tax, the MAT. MAT for corporate tax, corporates were removed and similarly now AMT for the cooperatives is also being moved. Medium and small and micro enterprises, the MSMEs, currently businesses having turnover of more than 1 crore rupees are required to get their books of accounts audited by an accountant. In order to reduce the compliance burden on small retailers traders, shopkeepers who comprise the MSME sector, I propose to raise by five times the turnover threshold for audit from the existing 1 crore to 5 crore. So up to 5 crore there wouldn't be a requirement for auditing of their accounts. Further, in order to boost less cash economy I propose that the increased limit shall apply only to those businesses which carry out less than 5% of their businesses and business transactions in cash. So we wish to move to greater digitization, affordable housing. For realization of the goal of housing for all and affordable housing, in the last budget I had announced an additional deduction of up to 1,50,000 rupees for interest paid on loans taken for the purchase of an affordable house. The deduction was allowed on housing loans sanctioned on or before 31st March 2020. In order to ensure that more persons avail this benefit and to further incentivize the affordable housing I propose to extend the date of loan sanction for availing this additional deduction by one more year. Further, in order to boost the supply of affordable houses in the country, a tax holiday is provided on the profits earned by developers of affordable housing projects approved by 31st March 2020. In order to promote the affordable housing projects I propose to extend the date of approval of affordable housing projects for availing the tax holiday by one more year again. I propose to extend the date of approval of affordable housing projects for availing this tax holiday by one more year. So next is the concession to real estate transactions. Currently, while taxing income from capital gains, business profits and other sources in respect of transactions in real estate if the consideration value is less than the circle rate by more than 5% the difference is counted as income both in the hands of the purchaser and the seller. In order to minimize hardship in the real estate transaction and provide relief to the sector, I propose to increase the limit from 5% to 10%. Charity institutions. Acknowledging the important role played by the charitable institutions in the society, the income of these institutions is fully exempt from taxation. Further, donation made to these institutions are also allowed as deduction in computing taxable income of the donor. Currently, a taxpayer is required to fill the complete details of the donation done in the income tax return for availing deduction. In order to ease the process of claiming deduction for donation, it is proposed to pre-fill the donor's information in taxpayers' return on the basis of information of donations furnished by the donor. This would result in a hassle-free claim of deduction for the donation made by the taxpayer. Further, in order to claim the tax exemption, the charity institution had to be registered with the income tax department. In the past, the process of the registration was completely manual and scattered all over the country. In order to simplify the compliance for the new existing charity institutions, I propose to make the process of registration completely electronic, under which a unique registration number shall be issued to all new and existing charity institutions. To facilitate the registration of the new charity institution, which is yet to start their charitable activities, I propose to allow them provisional registration of three years. Faceless appeals. Our government is committed to bringing in transformational changes so that maximum governance is provided with minimum government. In order to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability to the assessment process, a new faceless assessment scheme has already been introduced. Currently, most of the functions of the income tax, department starting from the filing of return, processing of returns, issuance of refunds and assessment are performed in the electronic mode without any human interface. In order to take the reforms initiated by the department to the next level and to eliminate human interface, I propose to amend the income tax act so as to enable faceless appeal on the lines of faceless assessment. So faceless assessment was done. Now faceless appeals will also be possible. Sir, Honourable Speaker, Vivaad say Vishwas scheme. Vivaad say Vishwas scheme. No dispute, but only trust scheme. If I can say it in English, no dispute, but trust scheme. Vivaad say Vishwas scheme. Sir, in the past, our government has taken several measures to reduce tax litigations. In the last budget, in the last budget, Sapka Vishwas scheme was brought in to reduce litigation in indirect taxes. It resulted in settling over 1,89,000 cases. Currently, there are 4,83,000 direct tax cases. 4,83,000 direct tax cases pending in various appellate forums, Commissioner of Appeals, Income Tax Appellation, High Court, Supreme Court and so on. This year, I proposed to bring a scheme similar to the indirect tax Sapka Vishwas scheme for reducing the litigation even in the direct taxes. Under the proposed Vivaad say Vishwas scheme, a taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of disputed tax and will get complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by 31st March 2020. Those who avail this scheme after 31st March 2020 will have to pay some additional amount, but even then they can come in. The scheme will be reduced and then they can come in. The scheme will remain open till 30th June 2020. So the first thing is 31st March 2020 where you just pay the disputed tax amount, no penalty, no interest. In case you don't do it before that, you move over to 30th June but where you pay some additional amount. Taxpayers in whose cases appeals are pending at any level can benefit from this scheme. I hope that taxpayers will make use of this opportunity to get relief from vexatious litigation process. So losses of merged banks as part of consolidation of the financial sector, our government has brought out schemes for merger and amalgamation of public sector banks in order to ensure that amalgamated entities are able to take the benefit of unabsorbed losses and depreciation of the amalgamated entities, I propose to make necessary amendments to the provision of the Income Tax Act. Taxpayers charter. I mentioned it briefly in part A. Any tax system requires trust between taxpayers and the administration. This will be possible only when taxpayers' rights are clearly enumerated. Towards this end and with the objective of enhancing the efficiency of delivery system of the income tax department, I propose to amend the provisions of the Income Tax Act to mandate the central board of direct taxes, CBDT, to adopt a taxpayers' charter. The details of the contents of the charter will be notified soon. Instant PAN through ADAR. In the last budget, I have introduced the interchangeability of PAN and ADAR for which necessary rules were already notified. In order to further ease the process of allotment of PAN, soon we will launch a system under which PAN shall be instantly allotted online on the basis of ADAR without any requirement for filling up of detailed application form. Sir, our government brought in the GST as a historic reform of the indirect taxes in 2017. We also took a path-breaking step of simplifying and rationalizing corporate tax in September 2019. More importantly, we offered a rate of corporate tax which perhaps is the lowest in the world. Continuing on this path, we have now put the personal income tax at its lowest ever rate and totally removed the DDT at the company's hands. Further, the direct taxes are now the lowest, simplest and the smoothest. Direct tax on the startups have also been seen many reformatory steps in quick succession. Even ease of compliance is seeing unprecedented changes. Last but not the least, personal interface with tax administration is at the minimum level. Sir, last, indirect tax. Indirect tax, sir, as I mentioned earlier in part A of my speech, the reforms are continuing in the GST. A simplified return shall be implemented from 1st April 2020. This is under the pilot run. It will make return filing simple with features like SMS-based filing for nil return, return, pre-filling, improved input tax credit flow and overall simplification. Refund process has been simplified and has been made fully automated with no human interface. Electronic invoice is another innovation wherein critical information shall be captured electronically in centralized system. It will be implemented in a face manner starting from this month itself on optional basis. It will facilitate compliance and return filing. Several measures have been taken for improving compliance that has been a worry for many of the states. Adar-based verification of taxpayers is being introduced. This will help in weeding out dummy or non-existent unit. Dynamic QR code is proposed for consumer invoices. GST parameters will be captured when payment for purchases is made through the QR code. A system of cash reward is envisaged to incentivize customers to seek invoice. Deep data analytics and AI tools are being used for crackdown on GST input credit, input tax credit refund and other frauds and to identify all those who are trying to game the system. Invoice and input tax credit matching is being done wherein returns having mismatch more than 10 percent or above a threshold are identified and pursued. Significant policy level changes have also been made. GST rate structure is also being deliberated upon so as to address issues like inverted duty structure. Customs and number of measures have been taken for the use of doing business. India's quantum leap in the trading across border parameter of ease of doing business rankings by the World Bank is a testimony to these efforts. India's rank on this parameter improved from 146 to 80 in 2018 and further to 68 in 2019. Measures have also been taken for providing a level playing field to our domestic manufacturers particularly the MSME sector and for securing our borders. It has been observed that imports under free trade agreements are on the rise. Undue claims of FDA benefits have post threat to domestic industry. Such import require stringent checks. In this context suitable provisions are being incorporated in the Customs Act. In the coming months we shall review rules of origin requirements particularly for certain sensitive items so as to ensure that FTAs are aligned to the conscious direction of our policy. We are also strengthening provisions relating to safeguard duties which are applied when surge in imports causes serious injury to domestic industry. Amended provisions shall enable regulating such surge in imports in a systematic way. The provisions for checking dumping of goods and imports of subsidized goods are also being strengthened for ensuring level playing field for domestic industry. These changes are in line with international best practices. Exemptions from customs duty have been given in the public interest from time to time. However, a number of these have outlived their utility or have become outdated. On review certain exemptions are being withdrawn. Remaining customs duty exemptions shall be comprehensively reviewed by September 2020 for taking a view on their relevance. I propose to crowdsource suggestions for such reviews. Suggestions would also be invited in respect of the customs laws and procedures for aligning them with the needs of changing times. Sorry. Intensive sectors in MSME are critical for employment generation. Cheap and low quality imports are impediment to our growth. Special attention has been taken to put measured restraint on import of these items which are being produced by our MSMEs with better quality. Keeping in view the need of the sector customs duty is being raised on items like footwear and furniture. Our policy of make in India has started giving dividends. Our policy of make in India has started giving dividends. India is now making world class goods and exporting such products. We have made considerable progress in medical equipments too. We have made considerable progress in medical equipment too. A few weeks back we were dependent on imports for medical equipment. Now not only we are manufacturing medical equipment but also exporting them in large quantities. This sector deserves further fillip. Government has also been committed to provide health services to all. Ayushman Bharat has made it possible to achieve the twin objectives of giving impetus to the domestic industry and also to generate resources for health services. I propose to impose a nominal health cess by way of duty of customs on the imports of medical equipment keeping in view that these goods are now being made significantly in India. There are only two more pages. To achieve the twin objectives of giving impetus to the domestic industry and also to generate resources for health services I propose to impose a nominal health cess I propose to impose a nominal health cess by way of duty of customs on the import of medical equipment keeping in view that these goods are now being made significantly in India. The proceeds of this cess shall be used for creating infrastructure So I think I will leave the rest of the pages Please consider as we Thank you Item number three with your permission I rise to lay on the table of the following The following statements under section three one of the fiscal responsibility and budget management act 2003 Medium term fiscal policy come fiscal policy strategy statement and macroeconomic framework statement Item number four Sir with your permission I rise to move for leave to introduce the finance bill 2020