Rail fares and freight tariffs will not be raised this year in view of the economic recession, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced in the Railway Budget 2009-2010 on Friday.

In her budget speech in the Lok Sabha, she said the downturn had “caused much economic burden on the poor”.

Announcing a slew of trains, including 12 non-stop trains between important cities, and the introduction of double-decker air-conditioned coaches, she said passenger amenities will be a priority area for the ministry.

Among other firsts, she said the ministry was examining the possibility of providing a doctor on each long-distance train. She also announced setting up medical centres in important stations.

Banerjee, who let go of the customary leather suitcase for her cloth jhola to bring the budget to the House, said 5,000 post offices will be selected to issue railway tickets. She also lowered the advance booking time for tatkal tickets from five days to two

Here are the highlights:

12 new ‘Duronto’ trains (non-stop):

• New Delhi-Jammu Tawi Non stop (Tri-weekly)
• Howrah-Mumbai (AC) Non stop (Bi-weekly)
• Mumbai-Ahmedabad (AC) Non stop (Tri-weekly)
• Chennai-Delhi Non Stop (Bi-weekly)
• New Delhi-Lucknow Non Stop (Tri-weekly)
• Delhi-Pune (AC) Non Stop (Bi-weekly)
• Howarh-Delhi Non Stop (Bi-weekly)
• New Delhi-Allahabad Non Stop (Tri-weekly)
• Sealdah-New Delhi Non Stop (Bi-weekly)
• Kolkata-Amritsar Non Stop (Bi-weekly)
• Bhubaneswar-Delhi Non Stop (weekly)
• Ernakulam-Delhi Non Stop (weekly)

57 new trains:

• Vishakhapatnam – Secunderabad – Mumbai Superfast (Bi-weekly).
• Sriganga Nagar – Delhi – Nanded Superfast (Weekly)
• New Jalpaiguri – Sealdah Superfast (Tri-weekly)
• Bangalore – Hubli – Solapur Superfast (Tri-weekly)
• Howrah – Bangalore Superfast (weekly)
• Pune – Daund-Solapur Superfast (Daily)
• Ranchi-Howrah (3 days via Ghatshila-Kharagpur and 3 days via Asansol) Intercity (6 days a week)
• Kamakhya-Puri Express (Weekly)
• Jabalpur-Ambikapur Express (Tri-weekly)
• Gandhidham-Howrah Superfast (Weekly)
• Delhi-Sadulpur Express (Tri-weekly)
• Ajmer-Bhopal Express (by intergration of 9655/56 Ajmer-Ratlam and 9303/04 Ratlam- Bhopal express trains) (Daily)
• Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Jn. (Thiruvananthapuram) Superfast (Weekly)
• Mumbai-Karwar Superfast (Tri-weekly)
• Durg-Jaipur Express (Weekly)
• Dibrugarh Town-Chandigarh Express (Weekly)
• Delhi-Farakka Express (Bi-weekly)
• Hazrat Nizmmudin-Bangalore Rajdhani Express (Tri-weekly) via Kacheguda
• New Jalpaiguri-Delhi Express (Bi-weekly) via Barauni
• Mumbai-Varanasi Superfast (Daily)
• Mysore-Yesvantpur Express (Daily)
• Koraput-Rourkela Express (Daily) via Rayagada
• Agra-Ajmer Intercity Superfast (Daily)
• Mumbai-Jodhpur-Bikaner Superfast (Bi-weekly)
• Agra-Lucknow Junction Intercity (Daily)
• Hapa-Tirunelveli Jn. Superfast (Bi-weekly) via Thiruananthapuram
• Gwalior-Bhopal Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Guna
• Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram Express (Tri-weekly) via Madurai
• Howrah-Haridwar Superfast (5 days a week)
• Varanasi-Jammu Tawi Superfast (Daily)
• Gorakhpur-Mumbai Superfast (Daily)
• New Delh-Guwahati Rajdhani Express (Weekly) via Muzaffarpur
• Veraval-Mumbai Link Service (Daily)
• Ranchi-Patna Jan Shatabadi Express (Daily)
• Jhansi-Chhindwara Express (Bi-weekly) via Bina-Bhopal
• Mumbai-Jodhpur Express (Weekly)
• Jamalpur-Gaya Passenger (Daily)
• Jhajha-Patna MEMU (Daily)
• Kanpur-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (6 days a week)
• Bhopal-Lucknow-Pratapgarh Superfast (Weekly)
• Lucknow-Rae Bareli-Bangalore Superfast (Weekly)
• Shimoga-Bangalore Intercity Express (Daily)
• Mdurai-Chennai Express (Bi-weekly)
• Guwahati-New Cooch Behar Express Intercity (Daily)
• Balurghat-New Jalpaiguri Express (Daily) via Kishanganj
• Alipurduar-New Delhi Jalpaiguri Express Intercity (Daily) via Siliguri
• Dharmanagar-Agartala Fast Passenger (Daily)
• Rewari-Phulera Passenger (Daily) via Ringus
• Shoranur-Nilambur Road Passenger (Daily)
• Coimbator-Shoranur Passenger (Daily)
• Mathura-Kasganj Passenger (Daily)
• Farakka-Katwa-Azimganj-Nawadwip Dham Express (Daily)
• Bangalore-Kochuveli Superfast (Weekly)
• Kolkata-Rampurhat Express (Daily)
• New Jalpaiguri-Digha Express (Weekly)
• Purulia-Howrah Express (Bi-weekly)
• Kolkata-Bikaner Express (Weekly) via Nagore

Trains with increased frequency:

• 2685/2686 Chennai-Mangalore from 3 days to daily.
• 2423/2424 New Delhi-Guwahati Rajdhani Express from 5 days to 6 days.
• 2443/2444 New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express from 2 days to 4 days.
• 7091/7092 Secunderabad-Patna from 2 days to daily.
• 2739/2740 Secunderabad-Vishakapatnam Express from 4 days to daily.
• 2111/2112 Amravati-Mumbai Express from 3 days to daily.
• 2957/2958 Ahmedabad-New Delhi Rajdhani Express from 6 days to daily.
• 2149/2150 Pune-Patna Express from 4 days to daily.
• 2487/2488 Jogbani-Delhi Express from 5 days to daily.
• 2823/2824 Nizammudin-Durg Chhatisgarh Sampark Kranti from 2 days to 3 days.
• 2985/2986 Sealdah-Jaipur Express from 2 days to daily.
• 2905/2906 Porbander-Howrah (via Hapa) from 2 days to 3 days.
• 4207/4208 Delhi-Pratapgarh Padmavat Express from 3 days to daily.

Fares:

• No increase in passenger fares
• No hike in freight tariff

Stations to be made world-class:

CST Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Howrah, Sealdah, Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Amritsar, Kanpur, Guwahati, Jaipur, Chennai Central, Tiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad, Tirupati, Bangalore City, Baiyapanahali (Bangalore), Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Habibganj, Gaya Jn., Agra Cantt., Mathura Jn., Chandigarh, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Majerhat, Mangalore, Porbandar, Anand Vihar, Brijwasan, Ajmer Jn., Puri.

Construction of new lines:

• Ghoramara-Dumka of Deogarh-Dumka
• Bishnupur-Gokulnagar of Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur
• Lanjigarh-Bhawanipatna of Lanjigarh-Junagarh
• Quazigund-Anantnag of Udhampr-Baramulla
• Rewari-Jhajjar of Rewari-Rohtak
• Kottur-Harihar
• Churaru Takrala-Amb Andaura of Nangal Dam-Talwara

Amenities:

• Exploring possibility of deputing a doctor in long-distance trains
• Specially-designed coaches for handicapped passengers
• Ambulance facilities in long-distance trains
• Railways to give SMS updates on wait-listed tickets
• Railways to sell tickets from 5,000 post offices
• Book stores, PCOs to be set up across stations
• Toilet facilities for women at stations
• Infotainment services in Rajdhani, Shatabdi
• Hospitals to be developed for railway staff
• Girl child scholarship for Group B Railway employees
• Toilets to be similar to ones in aircraft
• Monthly passes of Rs 25 for people whose income is not more than Rs 1,500 per month
• Super-fast parcel express trains to be started on a pilot basis between Delhi and Chennai, and Delhi and Mumbai
• Press correspondents to get 50% concession
• ATMs on 200 mid- and small-sized stations
• Metro concession in Kolkata to minority students
• Student concession to be extended to madrassa students

Special trains:

• Women’s special trains during peak hours
• New scheme called ‘Izzat’ for low-income monthly travel
• AC double-decker trains to be introduced in intercity trains
• New ‘Yuva’ fully air-conditioned train for youth. Yuva fares Rs 299 up to a distance of 1,500 km and Rs 399 up to 2,500 km

Tatkal:

• Taktal tickets to be now available two days ahead of schedule
• Tatkal fare down from Rs 150 from Rs 100

Others:

• Total working expenditure estimated at Rs 81,685 cr
• 309 out of 375 stations will be developed with modern facilities
• CST Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Howrah, Sealdah to be developed
• 50 stations to be made world-class
• Multi-functional complexes for railway users at stations
• Ticketing services in 200 new towns and cities
• Mega logistics hubs in Eastern and Western corridor
• Launch of premium parcel service between three stations
• A new coach factory to be set up in Kanchrapara in Bengal
• Increase number of women commandos in key routes
• 49 stations of religious importance to be upgraded
• New policy to allow private freight terminal
• Railways to lease out land for commercial purposes
• Railway medical colleges to be developed along with rail hospitals on public-private partnership
• State-of-art new coach factory to be set-up Kanchrapara, West Bengal
• Better representation to be given to minorities, women and the economically-backward
• New policy to be launched for construction and operation of private freight terminals
• Cold storages and cargo facilities to eliminate wastage of perishables

Mr. Speaker, Sir,

I rise to present the Interim Budget for 2009-10.

2. Five years ago the people of India had voted for change. In the words of our
Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, people had sought “a change in the manner in
which this country is run, a change in the national priorities and a change in
the processes and focus of the Government”. The Common Minimum Programme of the
United Progressive Alliance, built around ‘Aam Aadmi’, was a response to this
call for change. As indicated by Shri P. Chidambaram in July 2004, this
programme spelt out seven clear economic objectives:

(i) maintaining a growth rate of 7-8 per cent per year for a sustained period;

(ii) providing universal access to quality basic education and health;

(iii) generating gainful employment and promoting investment; (iv) assuring
hundred days of employment to the breadwinner in each family at the minimum
wage;

(v) focusing on agriculture, rural development and infrastructure;

(vi) accelerating fiscal consolidation and reform; and

(vii) ensuring higher and more efficient fiscal devolution.

3. As I present the sixth budget of the Government of the United Progressive
Alliance which completes its tenure in a couple of months, I can say with
confidence that every effort has been made by the government to deliver on the
commitments made.

4. For the first four years of the UPA government, our policies ensured a dream
run for the economy with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recording increase of 7.5
per cent, 9.5 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 9 per cent from fiscal year 2004-05 to
2007-08. For the first time, the Indian economy showed sustained growth of over
9 per cent for three consecutive years. With per capita income growing at 7.4
per cent per annum, this represented the fastest ever improvement in living
standards over a four year period.

5. During this period, the fiscal deficit came down from 4.5 per cent in 2003-04
to 2.7 per cent in 2007-08 and the revenue deficit declined from 3.6 per cent to
1.1 per cent.

6. Investment and savings showed significant improvement. The domestic
investment rate as a proportion of GDP increased from 27.6 per cent in 2003-04
to over 39 per cent in 2007-08. The gross domestic savings rate shot up from
29.8 per cent to 37.7 per cent during this period. The gross capital formation
in agriculture as a proportion of agriculture GDP improved from 11.1 per cent in
2003-04 to 14.2 per cent in 2007-08.

7. The buoyant growth of Government revenues facilitated fiscal consolidation as
mandated in the FRBM Act. The tax to GDP ratio increased from 9.2 per cent in
2003-04 to 12.5 per cent in 2007-08 bringing us within striking distance of the
target for fiscal correction. This also enhanced our capacity to raise resources
internally to finance our growth at the rate of 9 per cent per annum during the
Eleventh Five Year Plan.

8. All this would not have been possible without the guidanceof UPA Chairperson,
Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the inspiring leadership of Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan
Singh and the hard work put in by my predecessor, Shri P. Chidambaram.

Mr. Speaker, Sir,

9. The growth drivers for this period were agriculture, services, manufacturing
along with trade and construction. Hon’ble Members will agree with me that the
real heroes of India’s success story were our farmers. Through their hard work,
they ensured “food security” for the country. With record procurement of 22.7
million tonnes of wheat and 28.5 million tonnes of rice for our Public
Distribution System in 2008, our granaries are full. During this four year
period, the annual growth rate of agriculture rose to 3.7 per cent. The
production of foodgrains increased by about 10 million tonnes each year to reach
an all time high of over 230 million tonnes in 2007-08. Despite a high base, the
outlook for 2008-09 is encouraging with the country receiving normal rainfall
during the agricultural season. Manufacturing, registered as well as
unregistered, recorded a growth of 9.5 per cent per annum in the period 2004-05
to 2007-08. Similarly, communication and construction sectors grew at the rate
of 26 per cent and 13.5 per cent per annum, respectively.

10. Though our growth is based largely on domestic efforts, foreign trade and
capital inflows played a catalytic role. India’s exports grew at an annual
average growth rate of 26.4 per cent in US dollar terms during this period.
Foreign trade increased from 23.7 per cent of GDP in 2003-04 to 35.5 per cent in
2007-08. The conscious policy to gradually integrate the Indian economy with the
world, opened new opportunities for Indian corporates to build world scale
plants and aim at global competitiveness.

11. In order to maintain a high GDP growth rate on a sustained basis with price
stability, the Indian economy had to face two inter-related macro-economic
challenges. These relate to capital inflows and global inflation. Profitable
investment opportunities generated by high GDP growth attract foreign capital.
In 2007-08, capital inflows spurted to an unprecedented 9 per cent of GDP, far
in excess of current account financing requirements leading to large
accumulation of reserves and build up of pressure on prices.

12. During 2008-09, international prices of many essential commodities
particularly fuel oils, food and edible oils and metals rose to alarming levels.
To cite just one example, the price of crude oil which was US $ 28 per barrel in
2003-04 shot up to US $ 147 per barrel in 2008. The sharp rise in global
inflation, even with a moderated pass-through, put pressure on domestic prices.
The WPI headline inflation shot up to nearly 13 per cent in the first week of
August 2008. To ease supply side constraints, Government took a series of fiscal
and administrative measures, in concert with monetary policy measures by the
Reserve Bank of India. RBI raised the interest rates to mop up excess liquidity.
This, in turn, had implications for the growth rate from the demand as well as
supply side. These, along with easing of global price pressures, led to a
decline in domestic prices with inflation rate falling to 4.4 per cent on
January 31, 2009. We have weathered the crisis, but there is no room for
complacency.

Outlook for the year 2008-09

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I now turn to the outlook for the current year and the events
that have impacted its prospects.

13. The global financial crisis which began in 2007 took a turn for the worse in
September 2008 with the collapse of several international financial
institutions, including investment banks, mortgage lenders and insurance
companies. There has been a severe choking of credit since then and a global
crash in stock markets. The slowdown intensified with the US, Europe and Japan
sliding into recession. Current indications of the global situation are not
encouraging. Forecasts indicate that the World economy in 2009 may fare worse
than in 2008.

14. A crisis of such magnitude in developed countries is bound to have an impact
around the world. Most emerging market economies have slowed down significantly.
India too has been affected. For the first nine months of the current year, the
growth rate of exports has come down to 17.1 per cent. According to the latest
figures available, the industrial production has fallen by 2 per cent year-on
-year basis in December 2008. In these difficult times, when most economies are
struggling to stay afloat, a healthy 7.1 per cent rate of GDP growth still makes
India the second fastest growing economy in the world.

15. To counter the negative fallout of the global slowdown on the Indian
economy, our Government took prompt action by providing substantial fiscal
stimulus. The two packages announced on December 7, 2008 and January 2, 2009,
provide tax relief to boost demand and aim at increasing expenditure on public
projects to create employment and public assets. In this context, the Government
renewed its efforts to increase infrastructure investments. In the period from
August 2008 to January 2009 alone, the Government accorded approval for 37
infrastructure projects worth Rs.70 thousand crore.

16. In addition to expanding public sector investment in infrastructure, our
Government has also taken steps to encourage private investment in
infrastructure through Public Private Partnership (PPP). I am happy to say that
the Government of India has been successful in attracting private investment in
infrastructure sectors such as telecommunications, power generation, airports,
ports, roads and railways. Under the PPP mode, 54 Central Sector infrastructure
projects with a total project cost of Rs.67 thousand seven hundred crore have
been given in-principle or final approval by the PPP Appraisal Committee and 23
projects amounting to Rs.27 thousand nine hundred crore have been approved for
viability gap funding in 2008-09.

17. To ensure that such projects do not face financing difficulties arising from
the current downturn, we have taken a new initiative for providing refinance to
the banks for long term credit extended to these projects. Accordingly, the
Government has decided that India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL)
will refinance 60 per cent of commercial bank loans for PPP projects in critical
sectors over the next eighteen months or so. For this purpose, IIFCL has been
authorized to raise Rs.10 thousand crore in the market by the end of March 2009.
An additional Rs.30 thousand crore can be raised if required. With this, IIFCL
and banks will be able to support projects involving a total investment of
Rs.100 thousand crore in infrastructure. Combined with the steps we are taking
to increase public investment in infrastructure, this will provide a big boost
to such investment.

18. The RBI took a number of monetary easing and liquidity enhancing measures
including reduction in cash reserve ratio, statutory liquidity ratio and key
policy rates. The objective was to facilitate flow of funds from the financial
system to meet the needs of productive sectors. Our Government has also
announced specific measures to address the impact of global slowdown on India’s
exports. These include extension of export credit for labour intensive exports,
improving the pre and post shipment credit availability, additional allocations
for refund of Terminal Excise Duty/CST and export incentive schemes, and removal
of export duty and export ban on certain items. A Committee of Secretaries has
been set up to address, on continuing basis, procedural problems being faced by
exporters.

Mr. Speaker, Sir,

19. The favorable economic environment created by the reforms of 1990’s
gradually inspired the confidence of foreign investors in our economy, leading
to rise in capital inflows. India has evolved a liberal and transparent policy
for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Except for a small negative list, FDI is
allowed mostly on the automatic route. During 2007-08, we received a record US $
32.4 billion of FDI. In spite of global financial crisis, inward FDI flows
during April-November 2008 were US$ 23.3 billion, representing a growth of 45
per cent over the same period in 2007. Latest figures show a slow down. To
provide an impetus to foreign investment in India, guidelines are being further
simplified and made homogenous and consistent across various sectors.

20. Extraordinary economic circumstances merit extraordinary measures. Now is
the time for such measures. Our Government decided to relax the FRBM targets, in
order to provide much needed demand boost to counter the situation created by
the global financial meltdown. Indeed, depending on the response of the domestic
economy and the revival of the global economy, there may be a need to consider
additional fiscal measures when the regular budget is presented by the new
Government after the elections. However, the medium term objective must be to
revert to the path of fiscal consolidation at the earliest. The Thirteenth
Finance Commission has been asked to lay down the roadmap in this regard. The
new Government will have to address it in the light of future developments in
the domestic and international economic environment.

21. The recent developments have also brought out the need for accelerating the
pace of policy reforms, including in the financial sector, to make the economy
more competitive. The economic regulatory and oversight systems have to be made
more efficient and effective to bring the economy back to the 9 per cent growth
path at the earliest.

22. We also have to take note of Prof. Amartya Sen’s observation and I quote
“along with old slogan of ‘growth with equity’, we also need a new commitment
towards ‘down turn with security’, given the fact that occasional downturns are
common – possibly inescapable – in market economies” unquote. Employment
generation schemes have to be expanded and social security nets have to be
strengthened to protect the vulnerable sections of our society.

Mr. Speaker, Sir,

23. Let me now briefly review the progress in some important areas.

Initiatives and Achievements

24. UPA Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi had said “To be equitable, economic
growth has to be sustainable. To be sustainable, economic growth has in turn to
be all inclusive. All inclusive is no longer the greatest good of the greatest
number. It is actually Sarvoday or the rise of all”. In pursuance of that
vision, the UPA Government in the National Common Minimum Programme had declared
its intention to make growth more inclusive. The Eleventh Five Year Plan
provides a comprehensive framework and strategy for making growth both faster
and more inclusive. Impressive growth rates and buoyant revenues gave us the
head room to fund ambitious programmes to achieve these objectives.

Agriculture

25. Never losing sight of our commitment to the welfare of Aam Aadmi and
recognizing that 60 per cent of our population lives in villages, focused
attention has been given by our Government to the agriculture sector:

(i) In the period between 2003-04 and 2008-09, our Government increased the plan
allocation for agriculture by 300 per cent.

(ii) The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana was launched in 2007-08 with an outlay of
Rs.25 thousand crore, to increase growth rate of agriculture and allied sector
to four per cent per annum during the Eleventh Plan period. The scheme has
encouraged State Governments to take initiatives to develop the agricultural
sector.

(iii) On June 18, 2004 our Government had announced a package for doubling the
flow of credit to agriculture. The credit disbursements have already gone up
from Rs.87 thousand crore in 2003-04 to about Rs.2.5 lakh crore in 2007-08
marking a three fold increase. To strengthen the short-term co-operative credit
structure, the Government is implementing a revival package in 25 States
involving a financial assistance of around Rs.13 thousand five hundred crore.
Government will continue to provide interest subvention in 2009-10 to ensure
that farmers get short term crop loans upto Rs.3 lakhs at 7 per cent per annum.

(iv) The Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme for farmers, announced
in the last budget speech, was implemented by June 30, 2008 as scheduled. The
Scheme has been able to restore institutional credit to indebted farmers. As per
early reports, the total debt waiver and debt relief so far, amounts to Rs.65
thousand three hundred crore covering 3.6 crore farmers.

(v) Our Government is committed to ensuring “food security” in the country and
meeting the food requirement of the poor under the Targeted Public Distribution
System (TPDS). In spite of higher procurement costs and higher international
prices during the last five years, the central issue prices under the TPDS have
been maintained at the level of July 2000 in case of Below Poverty Line (BPL)
and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) categories and at July 2002 levels for Above
Poverty Line (APL) category.

(vi) Our Government has ensured remunerative prices for the farmers for their
crops. Since 2003-04, Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the common variety of
paddy was increased from Rs.550 to Rs.900 per quintal for the crop year 2008-09.
In case of wheat the increase was from Rs.630 in 2003-04 to Rs.1,080 per quintal
for the year 2009.

Rural Development

26. Our Government has accorded highest priority to rural development. A number
of programmes have been designed to help improve the living conditions of rural
population.

(i) The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) is the main instrument to
channelize bank funds for financing rural infrastructure. It is popular among
State Governments. The corpus of RIDF was increased from Rs.5,500 crore in 2003
-04 to Rs.14 thousand crore for the year 2008-09 ensuring greater availability
of funds for its activities. A separate window for rural roads was created under
RIDF with a corpus of Rs.4 thousand crore for each of the last three years.

(ii) Given the importance accorded to housing for the weaker sections in rural
areas, 60 lakh houses were to be constructed under the Indira Awaas Yojana by
2008-09. In the period between 2005-06 and December 2008, 60.12 lakh houses have
already been constructed.

(iii) Panchayat Empowerment and Accountability Scheme (PEAIS) is an existing
scheme under the central sector plan which has been recognized as a powerful
instrument to incentivise States to empower the Panchayats and put in place
accountability systems to make their functioning transparent and efficient.
Acknowledging the need to build in incentives for encouraging States to devolve
funds, functions and functionaries and set up an institutional framework for
such devolution, the Government proposes to substantially expand the scheme by
making suitable allocations.

(iv) The Department of Posts has launched “Project Arrow” to revitalize its core
operations and to provide new technology enabled service to the common man. So
far this has been successfully implemented in 500 post offices in the country.
This Project will receive full government support as it will enhance the
services offered to masses and would also lay the foundation for a vibrant
delivery mechanism for many social sector schemes such as pension and National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

Mr. Speaker, Sir,

Education

27. It has been said that literacy levels are a measure of a nation’s degree of
commitment to social justice. A literate environment is essential for ensuring
universal elementary education, reducing child mortality, curbing population
growth, ensuring gender equality and acquiring essential livelihood skills:

(i) The year 2008-09 was a momentous year for secondary education when several
major initiatives, including a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme to universalise
education at secondary stage was launched.

(ii) Higher education is of vital importance for the country in consolidating
its comparative advantage in skill and knowledge intensive services and in
building a knowledge based society. Our Government has taken a decisive
initiative in this direction. The outlay on Higher Education has been increased
900 per cent in the Eleventh Five Year Plan. An Ordinance has been promulgated
for establishing 15 Central Universities. Six new Indian Institutes of
Technology (IIT) have started functioning in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat during 2008-09. Two more IITs in Madhya Pradesh and
Himachal Pradesh are expected to commence their academic sessions in 2009-10.
With the commencement of academic sessions in the Indian Institutes of Science
Education and Research (IISERs) at Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram, all 5 IISERs
announced earlier are now functional. Two new schools of Planning and
Architecture at Vijayawada and Bhopal have already started functioning. Teaching
is expected to commence in four of the six new Indian Institutes of Management,
proposed for the Eleventh Plan period, from the academic year 2009-10. These are
in Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.

(iii) The UPA Government has revised the Educational Loan Scheme, as a result of
which the number of loan accounts has increased by more than four times during
the period March 31, 2004 to September 30, 2008 from 3.19 lakhs to 14.09 lakhs.
The loan outstanding during this period has increased from Rs.4 thousand five
hundred crore as on March 31, 2004 to Rs.24 thousand two hundred and sixty crore
as on September 30, 2008.

(iv) Following our announcement in 2004-05, nearly 500 ITIs have been upgraded
into centres of excellence. As an integral part of the coordinated action plan
for skill development, the Government created the National Skill Development
Corporation in July 2008 with an initial corpus of Rs.1 thousand crore to
stimulate and coordinate private sector participation in skill development.

Mr. Speaker, Sir,

28. I now turn to the social sector.

Social Sector

29. The UPA Government has launched many new schemes to provide steady monetary
assistance to weak and downtrodden people of our society. Emphasis has also been
given to the empowerment of women which has been an abiding objective of the UPA
Government. I give some details of the important schemes:

(i) To further strengthen social and economic inclusion of minority communities,
the new Ministry of Minority Affairs has been set up. Our Government has
announced the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme for the welfare of the
minorities. Adequate allocations are being made to support this initiative.

(ii) The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act 2006, which was notified for operation with effect from
December 31, 2007, has been widely welcomed by Scheduled Tribes and other
traditional forest dwellers who now have legal rights on forest land which they
have been cultivating or using over generations for eking out their livelihood.

(iii) The National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC)
has been mandated to provide loans at concessional rates for economic
development of persons engaged in unclean occupations. The authorized capital of
this organization is being raised from Rs.200 crore to Rs.300 crore to enable it
to effectively carry out its mandate. The scope of the pre-matric scholarship
for children of those engaged in unclean occupations has been expanded and the
rates of scholarships have been doubled in 2008-09. The annual ad hoc grant has
also been substantially increased by almost 50 per cent as compared to the
earlier rates.

(iv) Efforts of our Government and the financing institutions have led to a
rapid growth of credit linked Women Self Help Groups which are now over 29 lakh
in number. In this context, the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh will be strengthened by
enhancing its authorized capital.

(v) In December 2008, ‘Priyadarshini Project’, which is a rural women’s
empowerment and livelihood programme, was launched in U.P. with the assistance
of IFAD. The project will be implemented as a pilot in the district of Madhubani
and Sitamarhi in Bihar and Shravasti, Bahraich, Rai Bareli and Sultanpur in U.P.

(vi) A revised and modified scheme named ‘Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension
Scheme’ was launched on November 19, 2007. This scheme covers all persons aged
65 years and above belonging to BPL households. So far 146 lakh persons have
benefited from this scheme during the current financial year.

(vii) Two new schemes – Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and Indira
Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme – are being launched in the current
year. The Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme will provide pension of
Rs.200 to widows between the age groups of 40-64 years. The Indira Gandhi
National Disability Pension Scheme aims to provide pension to severely disabled
persons.

(viii) In order to empower young widows in the age group 18-40 and equip them to
stand on their own feet, I propose to give them priority in admissions to ITIs,
Women ITIs and National/Regional ITIs for Women. Government will bear the cost
of their training and provide stipend of Rs.500 per month.

(ix) The Government launched Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana for BPL families in
the unorganized sector on October 1, 2007. Up to January 15, 2009, 22 States and
Union Territories have initiated the process to implement the scheme. The
Government of India also launched the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) on October 2,
2007. The AABY is a Scheme for death and disability cover of rural landless in
the country in conjunction with the State Governments. Upto December 31, 2008,
the Scheme has covered 60.32 lakh lives.

Interim Budget Speach Part -2

All major documents related to the Gujarat budget 2009-10, presented by Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala today in the assembly.

Budget in Brief (English)

Annual Financial Statement (Budget)

Socio Economic Review (English)

Development Programme (English)

LIST OF COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
(as on 14.06.2009)

CABINET MINISTERS

1.
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister and also in-charge of the Ministries/Departments not specifically allocated to the charge of any Minister viz.:

(i) Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions;

(ii) Ministry of Planning;

(iii) Department of Atomic Energy;

(iv) Department of Space; and

(v) Ministry of Culture;

2.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee
Minister of Finance.

3.
Shri Sharad Pawar
Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.

4.
Shri A.K. Antony
Minister of Defence.

5.
Shri P. Chidambaram
Minister of Home Affairs.

6.
Km. Mamata Banerjee
Minister of Railways.

7.
Shri S.M. Krishna
Minister of External Affairs.

8.
Shri Virbhadra Singh
Minister of Steel

9.
Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh
Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

10.
Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad
Minister of Health and Family Welfare

11.
Shri Sushilkumar Shinde
Minister of Power

12.
Shri M. Veerappa Moily
Minister of Law and Justice

13.
Dr. Farooq Abdullah
Minister of New and Renewable Energy

14.
Shri S. Jaipal Reddy
Minister of Urban Development

15.
Shri Kamal Nath
Minister of Road Transport and Highways