India will hike its health spending by a massive 137% to boost its under-resourced public system that has struggled to manage the world's second largest Covid-19 outbreak. The South Asian nation of more than 1.3 billion people will increase its spending on health and well-being to 2.24 trillion rupees ($30.6 billion) in the fiscal year starting April 1, from the current 944.5 billion rupees, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her annual federal budget speech to parliament on Monday. Above, people watch Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting Union Budget 2021-21 on television sets, at an electronics store in Prayagraj.
Image Credit: PTI
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Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman shows the Made-in-India tab through which budget will be presented as she along with the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur leave from the Ministry of Finance to present the Union Budget 2021-22 in the Parliament, in New Delhi. With the Union Budget 2021 was delivered in paperless form for the first time, Sitharaman replaced the Swadeshi 'bahi khata' and switched to a tablet. The Finance Minister was seen carrying a tablet kept inside a red coloured cover with a golden coloured national emblem embossed on it.
Image Credit: ANI
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the budget was aimed at creating "wealth and wellness" in a country that is battling the world's second highest coronavirus caseload after the United States.
Image Credit: ANI
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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2021-22 in Lok Sabha in New Delhi.
Image Credit: ANI
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Office workers walk past a digital screen showing Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivering the budget speech in parliament, at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai.
Image Credit: AFP
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A farmer works in her paddy field on the outskirts of Gauhati. Amid the ongoing farm crisis with protests against the farm laws continuing for months, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget 2021 speech that the government is increasing the agriculture credit target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore.
Image Credit: AP
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Security personnel stand guard next to barricades outside the Parliament where annual budget is being presented in New Delhi.
Image Credit: REUTERS
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People stand in a queue to buy tickets as the local train services start after the COVID-19 outbreak, at Virar railway station in Mumbai.
Image Credit: ANI
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Security personnel use an IED detector on sacks containing copies of 15th Finance Commission for FY 2021-22, during the Budget Session at Parliament House, in New Delhi.
Image Credit: PTI
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Workers labor at an chassis assembly line on the Innova Crysta compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) production line at the Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd. plant in Bidadi, Karnataka.
Image Credit: Bloomberg
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Social security benefits to be extended to gig and platform workers. Employee State Insurance Corporation benefits too would be provided. Women will be allowed to work in all categories in night shifts too. Above, office-goers from government and essential services wait to board a suburban train at Dombivali in Thane.
Image Credit: PTI
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A share broker watches stock prices on a screen as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents Union Budget 2021-22, in Kolkata.
Image Credit: PTI
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A man watches stock prices on a digital screen on the facade of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), during the Budget Session of the Parliament, in Mumbai, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. The BSE benchmark Sensex zoomed over 1,700 points and the NSE Nifty reclaimed the 14,000-level driven by gains in financial stocks following the budget speech.
Image Credit: PTI
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Indian laborers work on a flyover that is being reconstructed following technical snag in Kochi, Kerala.The budget proposal presented by the government on Monday also focuses on developing financial institutions and shoring up of infrastructure to get the pandemic-ravaged nation back on track as the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Image Credit: AP
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The forthcoming census would be the first digital census in the history of India. For this, Rs 3,768 crores in this year 2021-22.
Image Credit: ANI
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A man watches a live streaming of the 2021 union budget on his mobile phone, in Kolkata. India unveiled a massive spending plan focused on healthcare and infrastructure on February 1, as the government sought to boost a coronavirus-ravaged economy on course for its biggest annual contraction on record.
Image Credit: AFP
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