#Budget2021: Health, Railways, Highways Get Priority

The much-awaited Budget session of the year 2021-22 has started in the Parliament. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is currently presenting the budget to the parliament members. Mrs. Sitharaman stated that the government has allocated most of the funds this year for the development of the healthcare system.

Speaking about India’s development in the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, Sitharaman said that we now have two vaccines that are safeguarding not only the Indian citizens but also the people of more than 100 other countries. Sitharaman allocated Rs. 64,180 crore for the healthcare system, which will be spent for the next six years. The government will set up 15 health emergency setups across the country.

Sitharaman also said that the pneumococcal vaccine, which is currently available for only five states, to be given soon across all the states of India. She added that this will avert more than 50,000 child death annually. There is an increase of more than 137 percent in health expenditure this year. Healthcare system has become the main priority for the government after the coronavirus pandemic. Sitharaman also said that the government will spend an additional expenditure of Rs. 35000 crores for the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccine.

There has been a sharp rise in capital Budget this time. Also, the government is ready to set-up a Development Finance Institution (DFI), capitalised with Rs 20,000 crore. There has been a sharp increase in capital expenditure to Rs 5.54 trillion for Financial year 2022.

The government also announced some highway projects for multiple states which is as follows.

Rs 65,000 crore for highway projects in Kerala.
Rs 25,000 crore for highway projects in Bengal.
Rs 35,000 crore for Assam highway projects.
Rs 14,788 crore for Bengaluru Metro.