<span style="color: #222222;">Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has termed the budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the year 2022-23 as an effective document in direction of strengthening country's economy and farmers. He said, it is employment-oriented and aimed at the welfare of weaker sections of the society besides giving new impetus to development.<br />''<br />''The Chief Minister said, this budget would strengthen the developmental infrastructure and at the same time it aims to make effective use of digital technology for ensuring a holistic and inclusive development process. He stated this budget would prove to be an important document in the direction of making the entire country as well as all the states self-reliant and self-sufficient.<br />''<br />''Mr Thakur further added that the budget would speed up the construction of roads, railways, airports, ports, public transport systems, and waterways. He said, it would also provide pace to the development of these sectors in Himachal Pradesh under PM Gatishakti scheme.<br />''<br />''The Chief Minister said, the budget also emphasizes promoting zero budget natural farming, which will give more boost to natural farming in Himachal Pradesh. He said that a provision of 60,000 crore rupees has been made by the Central Government for 2022-23 under the Jal Jeevan Mission, which will help Himachal Pradesh to supply drinking water through pipes to all rural households of the state by July 2022.<br />''<br />''The Chief Minister also thanked the Union Finance Minister for starting a new scheme Parvatmala for the construction of ropeways in the hill states with the assistance of Central Government.<br />''<br />''He welcomed the increase in the tax relief under the new pension scheme from 10 percent to 14 percent. He also welcomed the announcement of providing tax relief to specially-abled and their parents.</span><br />