March 2, 2016 2:07 PM

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Jaitley says thrust of Union Budget is to fill gap in rural & agriculture sectors

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the thrust of Union Budget is to fill the gap in rural and agriculture sectors. In his Post Budget Interactive Session with industry associations in New Delhi, Mr Jaitley said, government has made big provision for rural roads, social security programmes and health sector in the Budget and concentrated upon areas like irrigation programmes, and Swachh Bharat campaign. He said government will take steps to keep public sector banks in good health. <br/><br/> The Finance Minister also said, Direct Benefit Transfer, DBT has resulted in a lot of savings, which is partly being used to benefit the weaker sections. He informed that 75 lakh people have given up subsidies under Give It Up campaign. The Minister claimed that targeted disbursal of subsidies is probably one of the most significant reform measures the government has announced.<br/><br/> He said listing of General Insurance Companies, pilot project for DBT in fertilisers, resolution of disputes in infrastructure projects were some significant structural reforms in the Budget. He said a reform measure that has gone relatively unnoticed is reform in state transport, which is one of the most unreformed sectors.<br/><br/>Mr Jaitley also said the budget allocated to MGNREGA scheme was fully spent last year unlike the previous years. He said if entire money allocated for MGNREGA is spent this year, it would be highest ever. Saying that Fiscal Deficit target was earlier met by spending less, Mr Jaitey said this time government collected more and spent more.

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