FM Sitharaman elucidates on ‘four major castes’ in focus in 2024 Union Budget

While presenting the highly anticipated Union Budget 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that there needs to focus on 4 different castes that take a significant place in the Indian economy. The four castes she mentioned in the address were; the poor, women, youth and the farmer.

On Tuesday, the finance minister tabled the 2024 Union Budget in the parliament. What makes the sacrosanct document so significant is the fact that this is the first budget of the Modi 3.0 government that came to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha General Elections.

It is pertinent to note that this will be the seventh budget presented by Sitharaman, the most by any Indian finance minister in the country’s history.

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What’s in store for the 4 castes? 

In the speech, Sitharaman recalled that the interim budget which was presented on February 1, 2024, emphasised the importance of the development of these castes. “As mentioned in the interim Budget, we need to focus on 4 different castes, the poor, women, youth and the farmer,” the Finance Minister averred in her address to the Lok Sabha.

Here’s a look at how the budget facilitated the growth of these four sections of the society;

Farmers

For the farmers, Sitharaman recalled the announcement of higher Minimum Support Prices for all major crops, last month. “For annadata (farmers), we announced a higher MSP a month ago for all major crops, delivering on our promise,” the Finance Minister averred.

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In the July budget, Sitharamas mentioned that the government is focusing on ensuring productivity and resilience in Agriculture. 1 crore farmers across the country will be initiated into natural farming,
supported by certification and branding in the next 2 years. The budget also promotes ‘Atmanirbharta’ for oil seeds such as mustard,
groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower.

Poor

For the poor, she noted that the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was extended for five years for their development. “The PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was extended for five years, benefiting more than 80 crore people. Administrative actions for the approval and implementation of various schemes announced in the interim budget are well underway and the required allocations have been made,” she explained.

The schemes introduced under the Urban Development Scheme also focus on the upliftment of the poor. PM Awaz Yojana 2.0 addresses the needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore.

Youth

For the youth, Sitharaman announced that the government will launch a scheme for internship opportunities for 1 crore youth in the 500 top companies. The scheme is expected to provide these internships over the course of the next five years.

This opportunity will come with an internship allowance of Rs 5,000 a month in addition to a one-time assistance of Rs 6,000. Other than this 12 industrial parks have been sanctioned under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme. Other than this the Finance Minister also introduced an education loan scheme for the youth who didn’t get benefits from any government scheme.

Women

The budget introduced several good initiatives for women under the Employment and Skilling programmes. This includes facilitating higher participation of women in the workforce through setting up of working women hostels in collaboration with industry and establishing creches.

In an effort to ensure inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice, the government proposed to allocate more than Rs 3 lakh crore for schemes benefitting women and girls.

This is a developing story.