Terming the Budget as growth-oriented, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that to find a solution to the ills plaguing the various sectors, the Union Budget 2004-05 proposes to give a boost to agriculture, industry and social and physical infrastructure.
Underlining that the Budget aimed to combine the rapid economic growth with enhanced social equity, the prime minister said that the fiscal deficit at present was at 4.4 per cent, and the government's endeavour would be to wipe it out.
He said an amount of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) additional Plan expenditure provided in the Budget would be utilised to carry out the objectives of the Common Minimum Programme.
A meaningful solution to mass-poverty, ignorance and disease, which still afflict millions of people can best be found in a rapidly expanding economy.
Pointing out that India had great diversity and complexity where no single application will work, the prime minister underlined the need for experimentation of viable options, which must vary from state to state and region to region.
He stressed that the non-government organisations had played an important role and said that the government sought their cooperation in social development and associated areas, like education and social services.
Stating that defence expenditure had been neglected in the last few years, the prime minister said the additional allocation will help in the area.
The government will also soon start "food for work" in 150 most backward districts in the country.
Singh lamented that the defence sector has been neglected for the last three or four years.
"We are committed to making good that deficiency. It is an investment in the national security and we must honour that," he said.
Speaking on the subsidies, he said the finance minister has promised a study by National Institute of Public Finance and Policies and when that study is ready, the government
would discuss in Parliament the steps it intended to take in this regard.
On the agri-economy, he conceded that there were major deficiencies in the agricultural credit system and said, "We are committing to increase the flow of agricultural credit by 30 per cent this year and double the same in the next two years."
The prime minister said that major problems have also hindered the growth of cooperative banking system. "We will appoint a task force to bring out what is wrong with the Cooperative Banking System and devise proper remedial measures," he said.
Expressing concern over the rural indebtedness, the prime minister said the government has already introduced a "well thought out package for dealing with rural indebtedness."
"We want to expand private and public investment in agriculture. Tax concessions in the Budget focus very sharply on agro-processing and diversification of agricultural economy," he said.
On watershed development projects, he termed the finance minister's proposal to "renovate, modernise and make functional" all water bodies in the country as a "very ambitious" task.
While committing for implementing the promises made in the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government, the prime minister said the focus remained to universalise access to primary education, provide cooked mid-day meal, expanding the provisions for drinking water and guaranteed employment.
"The Employment Guarantee Act is still in the process of being formulated but we are going to launch a massive food for work programme in 150 districts of the country," he said.
