#TGLife
At a time when the national economy is witnessing a slowdown, finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Saturday presented a budget that sought to put more income in the hands of citizens, and boost ease of living. Considering that majority of the Indian population today is under the age of 35, involving the youth in nation-building is the key, and this budget seemed to recognise that. To that end, the budget has taken a number of measures. One major development is the effort to bring education closer to the practical world with the introduction of apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses in various higher education institutions.
Secondly, the proposal for full-fledged online degree-level education programmes attempts to make education aims to make education accessible to rural areas. The government’s plan to connect village panchayats to the Internet could also aid this goal.
That said, not much appears to have been done on the startup front or in aiding small businesses directly, but setting up of clustors to help companies scale could go a long way.
3 key themes
ï® Aspirational India
Promising better standard of living with access to health, education and better jobs
ï®Economic development for all
Indicated in the Prime Minister’s exhortation of “SabkaSaath,
SabkaVikas, SabkaVishwas”
ï®Caring Society
Creating a society that is both
humane and compassionate, where Antyodaya is an article of faith
Opportunities in fishing
n The new budget called for youth from coastal areas to be involved in fishery extension through 3477 Sagar Mitras and 500 Fish Farmer Producer Organisations. Fishery exports hoped to be raised to Rs 1 lakh crore by 2024-Â25.
n Fisheries sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India, recording a total production of 13.7 million metric tonnes in 2018-19 of which 65 per cent was from inland sector. Almost 50 per cent of inland fish production is from culture fisheries, which constitutes 6.5 per cent of global fish production.
Funds allocated
Rs 1.60 lakh crore for agriculture, irrigation and allied activities
Startups
n In an innovative move to ease the financial issues of startup employees, the new budget defers the tax payment on Employee Stock Option Plans by five years or till they leave the company or when they sell their shares. Employee stock options are often used by startups as a part of payment package to employees.
n A startup which has a turnover of Rs 25 crore is allowed a deduction of its profits for three consecutive years, and bigger startups can avail of the scheme if their turnover is Rs 100 crore. Further on, the limit to claim the deduction has been extended from seven years to 10 years.
n These schemes have however attracted heavy criticism as they could only benefit a limited number of startups which are formed after 2016 and recognised by Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB).
Education
n Stressing that education and skill are key components of aspirational India, the government will be launching a new education policy.
n Students in the general stream (vis-Ã -vis services or technology stream) need their employability improved. About 150 higher educational institutions will start apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021. Apart from this, the government has also proposed internship programmes at urban local bodies for fresh engineers.
n It is proposed to start degree level full-fledged online education programme. This shall be offered only by institutions who are ranked within the top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking framework. Initially, only a few such institutions would be asked to offer such programmes.
n The budget also envisions making India an international higher education hub, and to that end, an exam called ‘Ind-Sat’ will be introduced for Asian and African students.
n It is noted that the skill levels of Indian teachers, para-medics and caregivers do not always match the international standards. In that light, special bridge courses could be designed by the Ministries of Health, Skill Development together with professional bodies.
Funds allocated
Rs 99,300 crore for education and Rs 3000 crore for skill development
Small and medium businesses
n Currently, businesses having turnover of more than one crore rupees are required to get their books of accounts audited by an accountant.
nIn order to reduce the compliance burden on small retailers, traders, shopkeepers who comprise the MSME sector, the turnover threshold for audit has been raised from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore.
nHowever, the increased limit shall apply only to those businesses which carry out less than 5% of their business transactions in cash.
Instant PAN through Aadhar
n 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 Aadhaar without any requirement for filling up of detailed application form.
Netizens a displeased lot
As it always does, the online realm had a lot to say about the budget presented by finance minster
Nirmala Sitaraman on Saturday.
While netizens debated the pros and cons of the new budget, lots of humorous comments and memes also began circulating. Supporters lauded the budget, but critics called it a Sajid Khan movie which is all show but lacking in substance.
Netizens were also quick to point out flaws
within the new income tax regime introduced in the budget.
