Union Budget 2022 Recognises Importance Of Nari Shakti: Here Is What Women Got

Union budget 2022 is being presented by Nirmala Sitharaman, who is the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India. This year, it will be Sitharaman's fourth Budget after 2019, 2020 and 2021.  The Union budget is an annual report of India. It contains the government's expenditure and revenue for the fiscal year which is from April 1 to March 31.

In this year's Union Budget, like last year, Sitharaman is presenting and reading out the Budget for 2022 through a tablet in paperless format, which is kept inside a red cover with a national emblem embossed on it instead of the traditional Bahi Khata. The budget will be presented by her along with Ministers of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Shri Pankaj Chaudhary and senior official of the Ministry of Finance.

Considering the 2022 Assembly elections will soon be underway in five states- Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, the Union Budget 2022 will reportedly focus on beneficiaries like women, farmers and youth, amongst others. According to Sitharaman, India's growth is estimated to be at 9.27 percent.

Suggested Reading: Why women need to have conversations about money and finance

Union Budget 2022 Highlights

• At the start of the announcement, the minister said that the budget for 2022-23 is designed primarily to benefit two core sectors which are women students, farmers as well as modernisation and development with PM Gati Shakti.
• Nari Shakti, women-led development, revamped under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, will include Mission shakti, mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadis and Poshan 2.0.
• "Saksham Anganwadis is a new generation Anganwadis that have better infrastructure and audio-visual aids powered by clean energy and providing an improved environment for early childhood development, Sitharaman announced, adding that two lakh Anganwadis will be upgraded as a part of this year's budget.
• The minister, announcing benefits for the northeast of India, said that the PM development initiative will be implemented for the North Eastern Council, which will enable livelihood activities for youth and women.
• Although, this scheme will not be a substitute for the existing schemes by central and state governments.
• University to be set up to provide access to students across the country and to world-class quality universal education. It will be built on a network hub and spoke model with collaborations of the best public universities.
• National Digital Health Ecosystem to be rolled out, which will include digital registries of health providers, health facilities, unique health IDs, amongst others.
• Customs duty on cut and polished diamonds, gems to be reduced to five percent.
• Customs duty on imitation jewellery to be raised to discourage their import.