Budget 2018: FM Arun Jaitley to take queries from Twitterati at 7 pm today on Budget proposals

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will reply to questions by Twitterati on the proposals in the Budget after its presentation in the Lok Sabha. “I shall be presenting the Union Budget for 2017-18 tomorrow. I shall be happy to respond to your questions which you can send directly to me," Jaitley said in a video message.

#IndiaBudget2018 The Union Finance Minister,Shri @arunjaitley will reply to the questions on General Budget at 7pm tomorow ,1st February, 2018. So Tweet your questions on #AskYourFM pic.twitter.com/WRT7wAFiEm

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) January 31, 2018

The questions can be asked on Twitter by using hastag #MyQuestionToFM. This year, the government has decided to advance the Union Budget presentation to 1 February, doing away with a decade-old practice of presenting it on the last working day of February. [caption id=“attachment_4314061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Arun Jaitley. PTI[/caption] Jaitley will present the current NDA government’s fifth and arguably his toughest Budget yet as he seeks to address agriculture distress, create jobs and boost growth while at the same time stick to fiscal prudence. The Budget, in view of upcoming assembly polls in eight states – including three major states ruled by the BJP – and general elections next year, may see new rural schemes and stepping up of funding towards existing programmes like MNREGA, rural housing, irrigation projects and crop insurance. With the recent elections in Gujarat indicating erosion of BJP’s rural vote base, Jaitley may also unveil incentives for the farm sector. Small businesses, which have traditionally formed the core support base of the BJP, too may get some sops to ease pain caused to them due to chaotic rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation. With inputs from PTI Click here for full coverage of Budget 2018