Even as the government and opposition trade barbs over the Union Budget for 2021-22, an interesting fact emerges with regard to the speech made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha as she spoke for just around one hour and 40 minutes, the shortest budget speech of her in recent times.
It is to be taken into consideration that in Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden Budget speech in July 2019 was for around 137 minutes long. In 2020, Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech went on for a record 160 minutes and was cut short later as she felt unwell.
Earlier in the day, Sitharaman presented the Union Budget with focus on “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
“In May 2020, the government announced the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package. To sustain the recovery, further into the year, we also rolled out two more AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages,” said Sitharaman.
“Total financial impact of all AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages including measures taken by the RBI was estimated to about Rs 27.1 lakh crores which amounts to more than 13 per cent of GDP,” she added.
READ: Ahead Of Bengal Elections, FM Allocates Rs 25,000 Crore For Upgradation Of Roads And Highway
Sitharaman further said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government stretched its resources to deliver for most vulnerable sections of our society – the poorest of the poor, the Dalits, Tribals, the elderly, the migrant workers and our children.
The Finance Minister announced a jump in capital expenditure, doubling of the spending on health besides more spending on infrastructure in her shortest ever Budget speech.
