Union Budget 2023 Live: The Last Budget Of Modi Govt Before Lok Sabha Elections Today

Parliament's budget session began on Tuesday with the President's address. Then Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey for the financial year 2022-23 on Tuesday. The Economic Survey said that India's economic recovery from the Covid pandemic has been completed and the economy is expected to grow in the range of 6 percent to 6.8 percent in the coming fiscal year 2023-24. This is compared to 7 per cent in this financial year and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22. Like the previous two Union Budgets, Union Budget 2023-24 will also be given in paperless form.

Middle class expects tax exemption

The middle class families are expecting from the finance minister that this time they will get some relief in tax. The middle class is expecting a discount in income tax amid rising inflation.

Housewives have said that rising inflation is eating into their household budgets, making it difficult for them to control their spending. They said that the increasing prices of essential food items and LPG cylinders have increased their problems. So the government should pay attention to this.

The Union Budget also includes the Railway Budget, common people expect that, "Railways should see that the train fares are not increased. Also, the increased fares in the last few years should be controlled. The platform ticket rate is Rs. 50.It has been reduced to Rs 10, we want it to be reduced further."

Passengers are also very enthusiastic about the Vande Bharat trains and the bullet train project. Many people said that Vande Bharat trains should be run from all the capitals of the country. Railways still need to pay a lot of attention to cleanliness of trains. Also, the trains which were stopped during Kovid should be restarted. Regular train passengers also demanded to increase the number of trains across the country.

Passengers said that in the railway budget, attention should also be paid to ensure better food arrangements in trains. More budgetary funds are expected to be allocated for safety and cleanliness of railway passengers. They said that the government should ensure the safety of passengers and they should invest more money to secure the railway network and make it less prone to accidents. The number and frequency of trains should also be increased."

Niranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranandani Group said that the budget should focus on more investment in roads, railways, ports, airports and highways as well as slum rehabilitation schemes. He said that if multimodal transport becomes successful in the next 2-3 years, the cost of logistics for every item in the country can be reduced by 3-4 percent. He said, "The logistics cost in India is 13 percent. If our multi-modal transport case is successful in the next 2-3 years, we can reduce the logistics cost for each item in the country by 3-4 percent."

'Increase in health infrastructure spending'

Experts in this field said that a major expectation of the health care sector from the upcoming budget 2023 is an increase in spending on health care infrastructure. Keeping in view the Covid epidemic, the budget 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 focuses on the healthcare sector of the country. During Budget 2022-2023, the Center in its budget announced the launch of an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem, which includes digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identification and universal access to health facilities.

Apart from this, Sitharaman also highlighted the launch of the National Tele-Mental Health Programme, which involved creating a network of 23 telecentres for the mental well-being of individuals and families.