GIFT City to be developed as Fintech hub, aircraft leasing cos at GIFT City to get tax benefits

First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: While
Union Finance Min-
ister Nirmal Sithara-
man focused more on
the states where as-
sembly general elec-
tions are due, Guja-
rat was not ignored
completely. The key
takeaway for the
state from the Budg-
et is that Gandhina-
gar International Fi-
nancial Technology
(GIFT) City—a pet
project of Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi—will now be
developed as a “Fin-
tech City”.
The Centre hopes
that as more technolo-
gy and financial com-
panies invest in and
launch operations at
GIFT city, the fintech
hub will then generate
1.25 lakh job opportuni-
ties, thus boosting the
local economy as well
as the growth of allied
sectors in the area.
The finance minister
has also announced
that aircraft-leasing
companies with offices
registered in the twin
towers of GIFT City
will be exempted from
capital gains tax, in a
bid to attract interest
from international
companies that have
shown interest in mov-
ing out of the nations
in which they current-
ly operate.
The Centre’s alloca-
tion of Rs1,624 crore for
the ship recycling sec-
tor in Alang is expected
to help build infra-
structure that will in
turn generate employ-
ment for locals as well
as migrant workers.
With the Centre an-
nouncing the establish-
ment of more Sainik
Schools across India,
in partnership with
non-governmental or-
ganizations, Gujarat
too could see one or two
more such schools—ei-
ther in the tribal belt or
in the Central Gujarat
region. There are cur-
rently two Sainik
Schools in the state.
Sitharaman also
announced seven
new textile parks
across the country.
Gujarat already has
two such parks—in
Ahmedabad and Su-
rat, respectively—
but could get one
more, given its posi-
tion as a leading tex-
tile hub.
GIFTCITYTOBEFINTECHHUB,
ALANGTOGET`1,600CR FUNDING
GIFT City —FILE PHOTO
Aircraft leasing companies at
GIFT City will get tax benefits
BUDGET
EFFECT
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 68
resenting the
Union Budget
2021 on Mon-
day, Finance
Minister Nir-
mala Sithara-
manannouncedanewcen-
trally sponsored scheme –
PM Aatmanirbhar
Swasthya Bharat Yoja-
na – with an outlay of
Rs 64,180 crore over
six years. She said
the scheme will
develop capaci-
ties of primary
,
secondary
, and
tertiary care
health sys-
tems, strength-
en existing in-
stitutions and
create new insti-
tutions to cater to
the detection and
cure of new emerging
diseases. New scheme will
be an addition to the Na-
tional Health Mission, she
said.
Overall, Sitharaman
proposed Rs 2,23,846 crore
Budget outlay for health
and well being for 2021-22,
compared to Rs 94,452
crore in the current fiscal,
an increase of 137 per
cent. She also said that the
government would pro-
vide Rs 35,000 crore for the
Covid-19 vaccination pro-
gram in 2021-22 and is
committed to providing
more funds if needed.
Emphasising the impor-
tance of the healthcare
system in the post-Covid
world, Turn to P7
P
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds a tablet containing Union
Budget 2021-22, during the Budget Session and is accompanied by
MoS Finance Anurag Thakur on Monday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Top
TWEETS
Narendra Modi
@Narendramodi
#Aatmanirbhar
BharatKaBudget is a
budget of opportunities,
which will further
growth in a wide range
of sectors. This is a
Budget that will further
‘Ease of Living’ and
bring many positive
changes for individuals,
investors, industry and
infrastructure.
Amit Shah
@AmitShah
Our sensitive PM
@narendramodi
has announced Rs
35,000 crore fund for
vaccination against
coronavirus. This shows
Modi’s resolve to make
India coronavirus free.
I thank Modiji for this.
Budget 2021-22 will
pave the way for a self-
reliant India.
Rahul Gandhi
@rahulgandhi
#Budget2021 must:
Support MSMEs,
farmers and workers to
generate employment.
Increase Healthcare
expenditure to save
lives. Increase Defence
expenditure to safeguard
borders. Forget putting
cash in the hands of
people, Modi Govt plans
to handover India’s
assets to his crony
capitalist friends.
Ashok Gehlot
@ashokgehlot51
If in the past, instead
of opposing FDI for
political reasons, BJP
would have supported
the UPA in the interest
of the country, then the
country would have
progressed further in
this direction
B
U
D
G
E
T
V
A
C
C
I
N
E
2
0
2
1
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD
& LUCKNOW
www.firstindia.co.in
www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/
twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia
instagram.com/thefirstindia
2021-22
UNION
BUDGET
Budget will enhance India’s self-confidence: PM Modi
MAJOR TAKEAWAYS
ATMANIRBHAR
PILL FOR ALL
Mumbai: The Indian markets recorded their
sharpest-ever Budget rally (in absolute terms)
on Monday, ending the session 5% up, as
investors cheered the Budget presented by FM
Nirmala Sithara-
man in the Parlia-
ment on Monday.
The FM announced
capital expenditure
of Rs 5.54 trillion
for FY22 as against
Rs 4.39 trillion
for FY21. Further, she announced the FY22
disinvestment target at Rs 1.75 trillion while the
FY21 fiscal deficit was pegged at 9.5 per cent
of GDP. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty
soared 646.60 points or 4.74 per cent to finish
at 14,281.20. The optimism despite higher
borrowing and a wider fiscal deficit, analysts
say, was on account of the positive measures to
revive the Covid-19 hit economy. Turn to P7
DALAL STREET
CHEERS UNION BUDGET
Sensex closes @ 2314, highest
in 24 year on budget day
FDI hike in
insurance to 74 per
cent from 49 per
cent with foreign
control under
safeguards. The
Finance Minister
has set a target of
`16.5 lakh crore as
agricultural credit.
It was the shortest
speech by FM, who
had delivered the
longest speech
last year. Her first
Budget speech
in 2019 was for
around 137 minutes
and in 2020, it was
for 160 minutes.
FM read out her
110-minute speech
from a tablet and
with this for the first
time, the Budget
went paperless
and members were
provided soft copies
of the speech and
documents.
2021 is the year of many
important milestones for India.
It is 75th year of Independence;
60 years of Goa’s accession
to India; 50 years of 1971
Indo-Pak War; 8th Census
of Independent India; India’s
turn at BRICS Presidency;
Chandrayaan-3 Mission &
Haridwar Maha Kumbh.
Senior citizens above 75, having
pension and interest income
exempted from filing tax returns
Capital infusion of Rs 1,000 crore
to Solar Energy Corporation of
India and Rs 1,500 crore to Indian
Renewable Energy Development
Agency
HEALTH
PENSION
EDUCATION
BUSINESS
WOMAN
& CHILD
DEFENCE
Honourable Prime
Minister launched the
vaccination drive by
crediting and thanking
our scientists. We are ever
grateful for the strength
and rigour of their efforts
Nirmala Sitharaman,
Finance Minister
outlay for Health and Wellbeing in
Budget Estimates (BE) 2021-22 as
against Rs 94,452 crore in
BE 2020-21 - an increase of 137%
Health & Wellbeing; Physical & Financial
Capital, & Infrastructure; Inclusive
Development for Aspirational India;
Reinvigorating Human Capital; Innovation
and R&D; Min Govt & Max Governance
highest ever outlay, for Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways
`2,23,846 CR
6 PILLARS
`1,18,101 L CR
Concept:
Vinod
Kumar
Sharma
Imagination:
Uttam
Kumar
Sain
BUDGET DECODED P2-6

https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/
Union Budget
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021
UNION BUDGET
2021-22
UJJWALA SCHEME EXTENDED TO
COVER 1 CRORE MORE BENEFICIARIES
`2,217 CR TO TACKLE AIR POLLUTION, FOR 42
URBAN CENTERS WITH A MILLION-PLUS POPULATION
AGRICULTURE/INFRA
This Budget has set
the highest ever
capital expenditure
target in the history
of Independent
India by underling
funds for capex
worth Rs 5.54 lakh
crore. This capex
push will set the
ball rolling for
making India a
five trillion dollar
economy.
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
The current
National
Apprenticeship
Training Scheme
will be realigned for
providing post-
education
apprenticeship,
training of
graduates and
diploma holders in
engineering. Over
3,000 crores to be
allotted for this.
Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal
Nishank
@DrRPNishank
Building robust
health care infra to
address present &
future challenges.
Interventions under
PM #Aatmanirbhar
Swasth Bharat
Yojana include
establishing critical
care hospital blocks,
integrated public
health labs in all
districts &
strengthening
HWCs.
Dr Harsh Vardhan
@drharshvardhan
Voluntary vehicle scrapping policy announced

Policy announced
to phase out old
and unfit vehicles
under which the
personal vehicles
will undergo a
fitness test in
automated
centres after 20
years while the
commercial
vehicles will
undergo the test
after 15 years.
New Delhi: Union Fi-
nance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Monday an-
nounced a voluntary vehi-
cle scrapping policy to
phase out old and unfit ve-
hicles under which the per-
sonal vehicles will undergo
a fitness test in automated
centres after 20 years while
the commercial vehicles
will undergo the test after
15 years.
“We are separately an-
nouncing a voluntary vehi-
cle scrapping policy to
phase out old and unfit ve-
hicles. This will help in en-
couraging fuel-efficient,
environment-friendly vehi-
cles. Thereby, reducing ve-
hicular pollution and oil
import bill,” said Sithara-
man in the Parliament
while presenting the Union
Budget 2021-22. “Vehicle
should undergo a fitness
test in automated fitness
centres after 20 years in
case of personal vehicles
and after 15 years in case of
commercial vehicles,” she
added. In Part A of Budget
2021, the Union Finance
Minister laid out a vision
for Atmanirbhar Bharat to
strengthen the vision of
Nation First, doubling
farmers’ income, strong in-
fra, women’s empower-
ment, healthy India, good
governance, education for
all, inclusive development.
The Union Budget 2021-
22 proposals rest on six pil-
lars: Health and well-being,
physical and financial cap-
ital and infrastructure, in-
clusive development for
aspirational India reinvig-
orating human capital in-
novation and R&D mini-
mum government, maxi-
mum governance. —ANI
Rural infra devp fund
increased to `40k cr
PROVISION
`15,700 cr
provided for
MSME sector
New Delhi: Union Fi-
Sitharaman has made a
provision of 15,700
crore for the Ministry of
Micro, Small and Medi-
um Enterprises (MSME)
sector in the Union
Budget 2021-22.
“We have taken a
number of steps to sup-
port the MSME sector in
this budget. I have pro-
vided 15,700 crore more
than double the previous
year,” said Ms Sithara-
man while presenting
the Union Budget in the
Parliament.
“Financial Inclusion:
To further facilitate
credit flow under the
scheme of Stand Up In-
dia for the Scheduled
Caste and Scheduled
Tribes and also women,
I propose to reduce the
margin money require-
ment from 25 per cent 15
per cent only and to also
include loans for activi-
ties in allied activities in
agriculture,” the Fi-
nance Minister added.
The Union Budget
2021-22 proposals rest on
six pillars: Health and
well-being, physical and
financial capital and in-
frastructure, inclusive
development for aspira-
tional India reinvigorat-
ing human capital, inno-
vation and R&D, mini-
mum government and
maximum governance.
While presenting the
Budget, Sitharaman
said, only three times
has the Budget followed
a contraction in the
economy this time, un-
like before, the situation
is due to a global pan-
demic Budget-2021 pro-
vides every opportunity
for the economy to cap-
ture the pace and grow
sustainably
.
Amid crisis, agriculture credit
target up to `16.5 lakh crore
mid the ongoing
farm crisis with
protests against
the farm laws con-
tinuing for
months, Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman said
in her Budget 2021 speech
that the government is in-
creasing the agriculture
credit target to Rs 16.5
lakh crore.
“Our government is
committed to the welfare
of farmers. The MSP re-
gime has undergone a
change to assure price that
is at least 1.5 times the cost
of production across all
commodities,” said Sithar-
aman, in assurance to the
farm sector.
Sitharaman further add-
ed, “Procurement has also
continued to increase at a
steady pace. This has re-
sulted in increase in pay-
ment to farmers substan-
tially
. In case of wheat, the
total payment made to
farmers in 2013-14 was Rs
Rs 33,874 crore. In 2019-20 it
was Rs 62,802 crore and in
2020-21, it was Rs 75,060
crore.” “Cotton farmers
saw stupendous increase in
the amount that was paid to
them in 2013-14, that was Rs
90 crore and it was in-
creased to over Rs 25,000
crore in 2020-21,” said Si-
tharaman.
In her budget speech for
the next fiscal, she said the
procurement of crops like
paddy, wheat, pulses and
cotton has jumped mani-
fold in the last six years.
Nirmala Sitharaman said a
total of 43.36 lakh farmers
have benefited from these
payments.
In Budget 2021, Sithara-
man also proposed to in-
crease agriculture credit
target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore.
Sitharaman also an-
nounced an Agricultural
Infrastructure and Devel-
opment Cess (AIDC) to con-
serve agricultural output
and improve infrastruc-
ture. “There is an immedi-
ate need to improve agri-
cultural infrastructure so
that we produce more,
while also conserving and
processing agricultural
output efficiently
. This will
ensure enhanced remuner-
ation for our farmers. To
earmark resources for this
purpose, I propose an Agri-
culture Infrastructure and
Development Cess (AIDC)
on a small number of
items. However, while ap-
plying this cess, we have
taken care not to put addi-
tional burden on consum-
ers on most items,” Sithar-
aman said.
FM announced agricultural infrastructure & development cess to conserve agri output & boost infra
WELFARE OF FARMERS
A
BUDGET DECODED
Budget for 2021-22 imposed a Rs 2.5 per litre agri infra cess on petrol, Rs 4 on diesel. —PHOTO BY PTI
The Finance Minister
also announced an en-
hanced allocation to the
Rural Infrastructure Devel-
opment Fund from Rs
30,000 crore to Rs 40,000
crore. She further proposed
to double Micro Irrigation
Fund, started with a corpus
of Rs 5,000 crore under (Na-
tional Bank for Agricul-
ture and Rural Develop-
ment) NABARD, by aug-
menting it by another Rs
5,000 crore.
In order to boost value
addition in agriculture and
allied products and their
exports, Sitharaman also
proposed to increase the
scope of ‘Operation Green
Scheme’ that is presently
applicable to tomatoes, on-
ions, and potatoes (TOPS),
to be enlarged to include 22
perishable products.
On seaweed farming, she
said: “Seaweed farming is
an emerging sector with
the potential to transform
the lives of coastal commu-
nities. It will provide large-
scale employment and ad-
ditional incomes. To pro-
mote seaweed cultivation, I
propose a mltipurpose Sea-
weed Park to be established
in Tamil Nadu.” —ANI
HIGHLIGHTS
 Finance Minister said,
procurement has also
continued to increase
at steady pace. This has
resulted increase in
payment to farmers
substantially
 FM said, there is an im-
mediate need to improve
agricultural infrastructure
so that we produce more,
while also conserving and
processing agricultural
output efficiently
 FM proposed to increase
the scope of ‘Operation Green
Scheme’ that is presently ap-
plicable to tomatoes, onions,
and potatoes (TOPS), to be
enlarged to include 22 perish-
able products.
 We are separately an-
nouncing a voluntary vehicle
scrapping policy to phase out
old and unfit vehicles. This
will help in encouraging fuel-
efficient, environment-friendly
vehicles.
`2,23,846 crore
OUTLAY FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING IN BUDGET
ESTIMATES (BE) 2021-22 AS AGAINST RS 94,452
CRORE IN BE 2020-21 - AN INCREASE OF 137%
`35,000 crore
FOR COVID-19 VACCINE IN BUDGET ESTIMATES
2021-22. RS. 2,87,000 CRORE OVER 5 YEARS FOR JAL
JEEVAN MISSION (URBAN) TO BE LAUNCHED.

Union Budget
03
UNION BUDGET
2021-22
GOVT TO BRING IPO OF LIC, REQUISITE
AMENDMENTS BEING MADE
TO FURTHER CONSOLIDATE FINANCIAL CAPACITY OF
PSBS, FURTHER RECAPITALIZATION OF `20,000 CR
POWER/HIGHWAYS
Great #Budget2021
announcements, @
nsitharaman Ji,
especially on
healthcare and
vaccines; this is the
best investment any
country can make.
A healthier India is
a more productive
India.
Adar Poonawalla
@adarpoonawalla
In a time of
unprecedented
economic stress, the
Govt’s responsibility
was to spend enough
to revive the
economy or else face
enormous human
suffering. So I had
one expectation from
this budget: that we
should be very
liberal in terms of
the targeted fiscal
deficit. Box ticked.
Anand Mahindra
@anandmahindra
Investors are driving
markets up like
#GameStop after
#Budget2021 turns
out to be like the
#Reddit forum that’s
putting power in
hands of masses. A
budget that focuses
on healthcare,
vaccination and
infrastructure- truly
democratising
growth! Except this
budget isn’t a
bubble!
Harsh Goenka
@hvgoenka
Highwaytodevelopment:`1.18Lcrinfraboost

Allocating
an enhanced
outlay of `1.18
lakh cr for
highways for
2021-22, FM
said execution
of flagship
highways
corridors as
well as projects
are bound to
speed up
Finance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman,
presenting the Union
Budget 2021-22, pledged
that the Centre will award
national highway pro-
jects to the tune of 8,500
km by March 2022 and
complete an additional
11,000 km of National
Highway Corridor. To
this end, Sitharaman an-
nounced projects in Ta-
mil Nadu, Kerala, West
Bengal and Assam.
The Minister said that
this will be in addition to
over 13,000 km roadwork
awarded under the Cen-
trally sponsored Bharat-
mala Pariyojana project,
of which 3,800 km had al-
ready been constructed.
More economic corridors
are being planned to boost
infrastructure, she said.
In Tamil Nadu, 3,500 km
of national highway works
have been proposed at an
investment of 1.03 lakh
crore, including the con-
struction of the Madurai-
Kollam economic corridor.
In Kerala, 1,100 km of na-
tional highways have been
proposed at an investment
of 65,000 crore. This in-
cludes the 600 km-section
of the Mumbai-Kanyaku-
mari corridor.
In poll-bound West Ben-
gal, 25,000 crore has been
set aside for 675 km high-
way works, including the
re-development of Kolka-
ta-Siliguri highway. In
Assam, Ms. Sitharaman
announced that 1,300 km-
sof national highway will
be built in the coming
three years.
She added that an en-
hanced outlay of 1,18,101
crore had been set aside for
ports and highways.
The Delhi-Dehradun
Economic Corridor work
will be initiated in the cur-
rent financial year, while
the Kanpur-Lucknow Ex-
pressway work will be initi-
ated in 2021-22. —PTI
`1,000 cr proposed for
welfare of tea workers
in poll bound Assam,WB
FOR BABUS
Over `257
cr to train
bureaucrats
in India and
abroad
New Delhi: Over Rs 257
crore has been allocated
to the Personnel Minis-
try for the next financial
year for domestic and
foreign training of bu-
reaucrats and augment-
ing necessary infrastruc-
ture, according to the
Budget 2021-22 presented
by Finance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman.
Of the total allocation
of Rs 257.35 crore for
2021-22, Rs 178.32 crore
has been earmarked for
upgradation of the Lal
Bahadur Shastri Na-
tional Academy of Ad-
ministration (LBSNAA)
in Mussoorie to a centre
of excellence, augmen-
tation of training facili-
ties at the Delhi-based
Institute of Secretariat
Training and Manage-
ment (ISTM), and the
National Programme
for Civil Services & Ca-
pacity Building -- Mis-
sion Karmayogi, among
others.
The LBSNAA and the
ISTM conduct several
training programmes
for Indian Administra-
tive Service (IAS) offic-
ers and all other levels
of secretarial function-
aries with exposure to
rules, regulations and
aptitude.
The Union Cabinet
had in September last
year given nod to the
Mission Karmayogi,
dubbed as the biggest bu-
reaucratic reform initia-
tive, aimed at capacity
building to make gov-
ernment employees
more “creative, proac-
tive, professional & tech-
nology-enabled”. —PTI
GOVT PROPOSES `3.05 TRN
SCHEME TO POWER ECONOMY
inance Minister
Nirmala Sithara-
man on Monday
proposed a Rs 3.05
trillion scheme
spread over five years to
revivediscomsandaframe-
work to provide electricity
consumersoptiontochoose
from service providers.
These two announce-
ments are aimed at ensur-
ing 24X7 Power for All as
envisaged by the central
government.
Last year, the govern-
ment had enforced consum-
ers rules for the power sec-
tor to ensure delivery of
services.
But loss-making and
cash-strapped discoms -
which are mostly owned
and run by state - are una-
ble to buy sufficient power
from generation firms to
provide round the clock
supply. Total outstanding
dues of the discoms to-
wards power generating
firms stood at over Rs 1.35
trillion as of December
2020.
In her budget speech in
the Lok Sabha, Sithara-
man said, “The viability of
Distribution Companies is
a serious concern. A re-
vamped reforms-based re-
sult-linked power distribu-
tion sector scheme will be
launched with an outlay of
Rs 3,05,984 crores over 5
years”.
The minister said the
scheme will provide assis-
tance to discoms for infra-
structure creation, includ-
ing pre-paid smart meter-
ing and feeder separation,
up-gradation of systems,
etc., tied to financial im-
provements. The Centre in
November 2015 introduced
the UDAY (Ujjwal DISCOM
Assurance Yojana) scheme
for the revival of the debt-
laden discoms.
Under the scheme, dis-
coms were envisaged to
turn around financially
within three years from
signing agreements under
it. In September 2019, Pow-
er Minister R K Singh had
said that the Ministry of
Power was working on
UDAY 2.0 scheme.
There were expectations
that the scheme would be
announced in the General
Budget for 2020-21. But, no
such schemes were an-
nounced.
Though, Sitharaman
had last year in her budget
speech said, “distribution
sector, particularly the DIS-
COMS, was under financial
stress. Further measures to
reform DISCOMs would be
taken”. —PTI
Govt working to give electricity consumers a chance to choose their discoms or service providers
REVIVING DISCOMS
F
BUDGET DECODED
Confederation of Indian Industry members viewing Live Union Budget, in Chennai on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
New Delhi: The govern-
ment on Monday proposed
to provide Rs 1,000 crore for
the welfare of tea workers
in two poll-bound states -
Assam and West Bengal.
The government on Mon-
day proposed to provide Rs
1,000 crore for the welfare
of tea workers in two poll-
bound states - Assam and
West Bengal.
In the first paperless
Union Budget, Finance
Minister Nirmala Sithar-
aman said that a special
scheme will be devised for
the same.
“I propose to provide Rs
1,000 crores for the wel-
fare of tea workers espe-
cially women and their
children in Assam and
West Bengal,” she said
while presenting the Un-
ion Budget 2021-22. West
Bengal and Assam are the
two big tea producing
states in the country. —ANI
HIGHLIGHTS
 The Operationalisation
of 17 new Public Health
Units and strengthening of
33 existing Public Health
Units at Points of Entry,
that is at 32 Airports,
11 Seaports and 7 land
crossings.
 Setting up of a national
institution for One Health,
a Regional Research Plat-
form for WHO South East
Asia Region, 9 Bio-Safety
Level III laboratories and
4 regional National Insti-
tutes for Virology.
 Union Budget proposes
putting in place a frame-
work allowing a choice
of electricity supplier to
consumers. The current
session of Parliament
will consider the Electric-
ity (Amendment) Bill,
2021, that has proposed
amendments including
measures such as “de-
licensing” of the power
distribution business to
bring competition.
`15,700 crore
BUDGET ALLOCATION TO MSME SECTOR, MORE THAN
DOUBLE OF THIS YEAR’S BUSINESS ESTIMATE
`3,05,984 crore
OVER 5 YEARS FOR A REVAMPED, REFORMS-BASED
AND RESULT-LINKED NEW POWER DISTRIBUTION
SECTOR SCHEME
Workers on contract for Indian Railways, erect infrastructure for drawing electric cable lines over railway tracks
for use by locomotives in Ajmer on Monday. —PHOTO BY HIMANSHU SHARMA

Union Budget
04
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD| TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021
UNION BUDGET
2021-22
`1,000 CR FOR WELFARE SCHEME FOR TEA
WORKERS OF ASSAM & WEST BENGAL.
NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PIPELINE
EXPANDED TO 7,400 PROJECTS.
EDU/WOMEN&CHILD
The economy
of India is
recovering
rapidly by
fighting a
successful battle
with the Corona
pandemic.The
economy is
further
progressing
through this
Budget2021
Prakash Javadekar
@PrakashJavdekar
Government
slashed allocation
for agriculture by
6 per cent in the
budget, cut PM
Kisan Samman
budget by 13 per
cent, and reduced
budget for
Market
Intervention
Scheme by
25 per cent
Randeep Singh
Surjewala
@rssurjewala
This Budget is
“Gazette of
Glorious Journey
of Aatmanirbhar
Bharat”..
#UnionBudget
#Budget2021
#Aatmanirbhar
Bharat Ka
Budget @
PMOIndia @
nsithar.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
@naqvimukhtar
`24,435 cr to make women & girls saksham

The highest
amount has
been allocated
to new schemes
like Saksham
Anganwadi and
Mission Poshan
2.0. The Beti
Bachao Beti
Padhao scheme
hasn’t been
allocated
anything
New Delhi: A sum of Rs
24,435 crore has been set
aside for the Women and
Child Development (WCD)
Ministry for the next fiscal
in the Budget announced
on Monday, a 16.31 per cent
increase over the 2020-21
financial year.
Out of Rs 24,435 crore,
the highest amount has
been allocated to the newly
announced Saksham An-
ganwadi and Mission
Poshan 2.0 scheme with Rs
20,105 crore.
Poshan 2.0 scheme in an
umbrella scheme covering
the Integrated Child Devel-
opment Services (ICDS),
Anganwadi Services,
Poshan Abhiyaan, Scheme
For Adolescent Girls and
the National Creche
Scheme.
The amount set aside for
the Women and Child De-
velopment (WCD) Ministry
is 16 per cent higher over
the 2020-21 financial year.
In 2020-21, Rs 30,007.09
crore was allocated which
was revised to Rs 21,008.31
crore.
The total amount for the
social services sector,
which includes nutrition
and social security and wel-
fare, has been increased
from Rs 2,411.80 crore in
2020-21 to Rs 3,575.96 crore
in 2021-22.
The schemes like Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao, One
Stop Centres, Swadhar
Greh, Child Protection,
Pradhan Mantri Matru
Vandana Yojana, Scheme
for Adolescent Girls
Scheme and Ujjawala have
not been allocated any-
thing in this budget.
The budget for Mission
for Protection and Empow-
erment of Women has been
drastically reduced from
Rs 726 crore to Rs 48 crore.
In social Services, Rs
783.82 crore was allocated
while in the previous fiscal,
an amount of Rs 695 crore
was allocated. —PTI
Unmanned Gaganyaan
launch in Dec: FM
RAGASPEAKS
Govt handing
India’s assets
to crony
capitalists
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
hit out at the Centre on
Monday following the
presentation of the
2021-22 Union Budget,
alleging that the Naren-
dra Modi government
plans to handover In-
dia’s assets to crony
capitalists.
The government on
Monday budgeted .75
lakh crore from stake
sale in public sector
companies and finan-
cial institutions, in-
cluding two PSU banks
and an insurance com-
pany, in the next fiscal.
“Forget putting cash
in the hands of people,
Modi governme nt
plans to handover In-
dia’s assets to his crony
capitalist friends,” he
said after the presenta-
tion of the Union Budg-
et. Prior to the presen-
tation of the budget, he
said it should provide
support to small and
medium enterprises,
farmers and workers,
and generate employ-
ment.
Gandhi also demand-
ed an increase in
healthcare budget and
hike in defence expend-
iture to safeguard the
country’s borders.
“Budget 2021 must: Sup-
port MSMEs, farmers
and workers to gener-
ate employment.
Increase healthcare
expenditure to save
lives. Increase defence
expenditure to safe-
guard borders,” he said
on Twitter. —PTI
`93,224-creduboost,however,
6.1%lowerallocationthisyear
etting up a Central
university in Leh,
100 new Sainik
schools and High-
er Education Com-
mission of India, increas-
ing collaboration with for-
eign institutions as well as
strengthening over 15,000
schools as per new NEP,
are among the major an-
nouncements from the ed-
ucation sector in the Budg-
et for 2021-22 announced
on Monday. The Ministry
of Education has received
a total of 93,224.31 crore
this year. In 2020-21, it was
allocated Rs 99,311.52
crore.
“For accessible higher
education in Ladakh, I pro-
pose to set up a Central Uni-
versity in Leh,” Union Fi-
Sitharaman said in her
budget speech.
She said, “More than
15,000 schools will be quali-
tatively strengthened to
include all components of
the National Education
Policy. They shall emerge
as exemplar schools in
their regions, handholding
and mentoring other
schools to achieve the ide-
als of the Policy. 100 new
Sainik Schools will be set
up in partnership with
NGOs, private schools and
states. “In Budget 2019-20,
I had mentioned about the
setting-up of Higher Edu-
cation Commission of In-
dia. We would be introduc-
ing legislation this year to
implement the same. It will
be an umbrella body hav-
ing 4 separate vehicles for
standard-setting, accredi-
tation, regulation, and
funding.” In the Budget,
the blanket exemption in
annual receipts for charita-
ble trusts running educa-
tional institutions, has
been increased from Rs 1
crore to 5 crore.
In order to promote en-
hanced academic collabora-
tion with foreign higher ed-
ucational institutions, the
budget has proposed to put
inplacearegulatorymecha-
nism to permit dual de-
grees, joint degrees, twin-
ning arrangements and
othersuchmechanisms.For
children with hearing im-
pairments, the government
has proposed to work on
standardization of Indian
Sign language across the
countryanddevelopnation-
al and state curriculum ma-
terials for use by them. Si-
tharaman announced that
the CBSE board exam re-
forms will be implemented
academic session in a
phased manner. —ANI
Budget: Cental varsity in Leh, strengthening over 15K schools as per new NEP announced
PADHEGA INDIA
S
New Delhi: India’s un-
manned space flight will
take place in December this
year, Finance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman said
today during her annual
budget speech. This mis-
sion will be the first of two
to be undertaken before the
Indian Space Research Or-
ganisation launches its hu-
man spaceflight under the
“Gaganyaan” umbrella. It
was initially planned for
December 2020 but post-
poned due to the Covid-19
pandemic.
“Four Indian astronauts
are being trained in Russia.
The first unmanned
launch, the precursor to a
manned mission, is sched-
uled by December 2021,”
Ms Sitharaman told
Parliament today
.
The Gaganyaan mission
was announced by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
during the 2018 Independ-
ence Day address to the na-
tion. It aims to send a three-
member crew to space for a
period of five to seven days
by 2022 when India com-
pletes 75 years of Independ-
ence. —ANI
BUDGET DECODED
Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal & Harsimrat Kaur Badal hold placards as they stage a protest
against the farm laws, during the Budget Session, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY PTI
HIGHLIGHTS
 Out of Rs 24,435 crore,
the highest amount has
been allocated to the
newly announced Saksham
Anganwadi and Mission
Poshan 2.0 scheme with
Rs 20,105 crore.
 Poshan 2.0 scheme in an
umbrella scheme covering
the Integrated Child Devel-
opment Services (ICDS),
Anganwadi Services,
Poshan Abhiyaan, Scheme
For Adolescent Girls
and the National Creche
Scheme.
 The schemes like Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao, One
Stop Centres, Swadhar
Greh, Child Protection,
Pradhan Mantri Matru Van-
dana Yojana, Scheme for
Adolescent Girls Scheme
and Ujjawala have not been
allocated anything in this
budget. The budget of min-
istry’s autonomous bodies
has been increased.
`1.97 LAKH CRORE
THE GOVERNMENT AIMS TO SPEND RS 1.97 LAKH
CRORE ON VARIOUS PLI SCHEMES OVER THE NEXT 5
YEARS, STARTING THIS FISCAL.
`3.05 LAKH CRORE
OUTLAY ANNOUNCED FOR POWER SECTOR & 100
MORE CITIES TO BE ADDED IN NEXT 3 YRS TO GAS
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK.

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Union Budget
05
UNION BUDGET
2021-22
OVER 15K SCHOOLS TO BE STRENGTHENED
UNDER NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY
FOR 2021-22, THE FISCAL DEFICIT IS ESTIMATED
AT 6.8% OF GDP IN THE UNION BUDGET
RAILWAYS/HEALTH
With an increased
focus on Minimum
Government &
Maximum
Governance, the
#Aatmanirbhar
Bharat
KaBudget
will further enhance
ease of doing
business,
encourage
research &
development
and help realise
PM@Narendra
Modi ji’s vision of
making India an
innovation hub.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
I welcome the new
Voluntary
Scrappage Scheme
for the prevention of
pollution. The fitness
test of private
vehicles will be after
20 years and the
fitness test for
commercial vehicles
will be after 15 years.
Nitin gadkari
@nitin_gadkari
The Budget 2021-22
presented by
Finance Minister @
nsitharaman Ji has
proven that under
the visionary
leadership of PM @
narendramodi Ji,
the massive
pandemic crisis has
been effectively
converted into huge
opportunity.
#NewIndia is
becoming a
completely
#AatmaNirbhar
Bharat
Kiren Rijiju
@KirenRijiju
Mission Poshan 2.0 to scale up nutrition

FM Nirmala
Sitharaman has
merged
supplementary
nutrition
programme and
the Poshan
Abhiyaan to
strengthen
nutritional
content, delivery,
outreach, and
outcome
New Delhi: The supple-
mentary nutrition pro-
gramme and the Poshan
Abhiyaan have been
merged to launch Mission
Poshan 2.0 to strengthen
nutritional content, deliv-
ery
, outreach, and outcome,
according to the budget an-
nounced on Monday
.
“To strengthen nutri-
tional content, delivery,
outreach, and outcome, we
will merge the Supplemen-
tary Nutrition Programme
and the Poshan Abhiyaan
and launch the Mission
Poshan 2.0. We shall adopt
an intensified strategy to
improve nutritional out-
comes across 112 aspira-
tional districts,” Finance
Minister said.
Out of Rs 24,435 crore al-
located to the WCD Minis-
try, an amount of Rs 20,105
crore has been assigned to
Saksham Anganwadi and
Poshan 2.0. Poshan 2.0
scheme in an umbrella
scheme covering the Inte-
grated Child Development
Services (ICDS), Angan-
wadi Services, Poshan Ab-
hiyaan, Scheme For Ado-
lescent Girls, National Cre-
che Scheme.
Meanwhile, the govern-
ment also announced the
Jal Jeevan mission with an
outlay of Rs 2.87 lakh crore
for 4,378 urban local bodies.
Presenting the Union
Budget for 2021-22, Finance
Minister Nirmala Sithara-
man further said Swachh
Bharat 2.0 will be imple-
mented with an outlay of
Rs 1,41,678 crore over a pe-
riod of five years.
In order to boost manu-
facturing in India, the fi-
nance minister also an-
nounced a production
linked incentive (PLI)
scheme with an outlay of
Rs 1.97 lakh crore for five
years starting this fiscal.A
scheme of mega invest-
ment textiles park in addi-
tion to PLI scheme will be
launched. —ANI
`3,726 cr allocated for
first digital census
ON TARGET
Nadda lauds
budget, says
will play vital
role in
creating jobs
New Delhi: Appreciat-
ing the ‘first digital
budget’ of India,
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) national president
JP Nadda on Monday
congratulated Finance
Minister Nirmala Si-
tharaman and her team
and said the efforts made
in the budget will play
an important role in cre-
ating jobs in the country
.
“This is the first digi-
tal budget. As Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
said, this budget is mak-
ing the rules and regula-
tions easier and will in-
crease the ease of living
for common people,”
said Nadda. He said the
budget was presented
under uncommon cir-
cumstances and it has a
sense of reality and a
thrust on development.
“This budget is for
everyone. This budget
will fulfil the hopes and
aspirations of elderly,
youths, women, along
with labourers of organ-
ised and unorganised
sectors and also of small
and large industrialists.
I want to thank PM Nar-
endra Modi for this in-
clusive budget that is
dedicated to the all-
round welfare of all citi-
zens. Also congratula-
tions to Finance Minis-
ter Nirmala Sitharaman
and her team,” he said.
Nadda called ‘health
and wellbeing, financial
capital, inclusive
growth, human capital,
innovation, research
and development and
minimum intervention’
as the pillars of the
budget. —ANI
Nirmala lays tracks for Indian
Railways’ ‘superfast’ future
inance Minister
Nirmala Sithara-
man spoke of the
New Rail Plan that
envisages a future-
ready Indian Railways by
2030. As part of her Union
Budget 2021 speech, Sithar-
aman announced Rs
1,10,055 crore for Indian
Railways. Out of this re-
cord sum, Rs 1,07,100 crore
is for capital expenditure.
Talking about the priori-
ties of Indian Railways,
FM spoke of the commis-
sioning of the Eastern and
Western Dedicated Freight
Corridors.
According to Sithara-
man, the priority is to
bring down the logistics
cost for industry to pro-
mote ‘Make in India’. For
the same, the Eastern and
Western Dedicated Freight
corridors will be commis-
sioned by June 2022. A few
sections of the dedicated
freight corridors will be
made on Public-Private
Partnership mode. She
also said that the dedicated
freight corridor assets will
be monetised for opera-
tions and maintainance
once the corridors are
commissioned.
The Sonnagar–Gomoh
Section of the Eastern Ded-
icated Freight Corridor
will be taken up in PPP
mode in 2021-22. This sec-
tion is 263.7 kilometres
long. The Gomoh-Dankuni
section of 274.3 kilometres
length will also be taken up
in short succession.
In future, more dedicated
freight corridor projects
will be taken up. These are:
East Coast corridor from
Kharagpur to Vijayawada,
East-West Corridor from
Bhusaval to Kharagpur to
Dankuni and North-South
corridor from Itarsi to Vi-
jayawada. Detailed Project
Reports for the same will
be undertaken in the first
phase, Sitharaman said.
Railway Budget 2021
also highlighted the na-
tional transporter’s plan
for 100% electrification of
the broad gauge network
by December 2023. “Broad
Gauge Route Kilometers
(RKM) electrified is ex-
pected to reach 46,000 RKM
i.e., 72% by end of 2021
from 41,548 RKM on 1st Oct
2020,” she said.
On the passenger front,
Sitharaman said new Vis-
tadome LHB coaches will
be attached to trains on
tourist routes to enhance
comfort. According to the
FM, Indian Railways’ safe-
ty measures have borne re-
sults in the last few years.
Allocates `1,10,055 cr to make Railways future-ready by 2030 and promote Make in India
SPECIAL FILLIP
F
New Delhi: The govern-
ment has allocated Rs 3,726
crore for forthcoming Cen-
sus, which will be the first
digital census, Finance
Minister Nirmala Sithara-
man said on Monday
.
Presenting the Union
Budget for 2021-22, she said
the government is also
working on a national lan-
guage translation initia-
tive.
Sitharaman also an-
nounced a deep ocean mis-
sion with an outlay of more
than Rs 4,000 crore over five
years.
In other measures, she
said the government has
also proposed to set up a
conciliatory mechanism
for quick resolution of con-
tractual disputes.
Further, the government
also proposed to introduce
National Nursing and Mid-
wifery Commission Bill,
Sitharaman said. —ANI
`4.78 L CR FOR DEFENCE
 Overall defence budget for
2021-22 was hiked mar-
ginally by around 1.4%
but there was a nearly
19% rise in capital outlay
for military modernisa-
tion even as official data
showed that an additional
unbudgeted `20,776 cr
was spent to buy mili-
tary hardware in face of
Ladakh border standoff
with China.
 Allocation for Defence
services was increased to
`4.78 lakh crore.
 Revised capital expendi-
ture for 2020-21 was
pegged at `1,34,510 crore
as against last year’s
budgetary allocation of
`1,13,734 crore to reflect
the additional expenses.
 `1,35,060 cr has been set
aside for capital expenditure
that includes purchasing
new weapons, aircraft etc.
`1,000 CRORE
RS 1,000 CRORE TO SOLAR ENERGY CORPORATION
AND RS 1,500 TO RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
AGENCY WERE ALSO ANNOUNCED.
`2 CRORE
IT WAS ALSO ANNOUNCED THAT GOVERNMENT WILL
INCREASE MAXIMUM THRESHOLD PAID-UP CAPITAL
OF SMALL COMPANIES FROM RS 50L TO RS 2 CRORE
BUDGET DECODED
Union FM Sitharaman speaks at LS during the Budget Session of the Parliament in New Delhi on Monday.
—PHOTO
BY
PTI

Union Budget
ealthcare pro-
viders on Mon-
day hailed the
2021-22 Union
Budget, saying
itprovidesthemuch-need-
ed fillip to the health sec-
tor and is a testimony to
India’s commitment to not
just fight back the COV-
ID-19pandemic,butalsoto
build a stronger and resil-
ient health system.
Poonam Khetrapal Sin-
gh, the Regional Director
WHO South-East Asia Re-
gion, said one of the
greatest lessons this pan-
demic has taught the
world is that health needs
to be a priority
.
According to Professor
K Srinath Reddy, the pres-
ident of Public Health
Foundation of India
(PHFI), the Union Budget
provides much needed fil-
lip to health, sanitation,
nutrition and pollution
control.
Commenting on the
Union Budget, Dr Prat-
hap C Reddy, the chair-
man of Apollo Hospitals
Group, said the COVID-19
pandemic was an unprec-
edented medical crisis
and it underlined the im-
portance of building a
resilient healthcare in-
frastructure.
Dr Ashutosh Raghu-
vanshi, the Managing Di-
rector and CEO of Fortis
Healthcare, said, “The
137 per cent increase in
the healthcare budget
from last year is notable.
Further, an infusion of
Rs 35,000 crore for vac-
cine development and dis-
tribution, ensuring pre-
ventive health and front-
line health and allied
workers’ skills building
along with surveillance
on infectious building,
reinforces Government’s
assurance on public
health programmes.”
Poonam Muttreja, the
executive director of Pop-
ulation Foundation of
India, said, “The PM’s an-
nouncement of At-
manirbhar Swasthya
Bharat Yojana is a step in
the right direction of
strengthening our health-
care capacities and infra-
structure. The increased
investment of Rs 50,000
crore over five years to
strengthen research and
development will surely
put India’s innovation on
the global map.”
Two leading NRI busi-
ness chiefs in the UK wel-
comed the Union Budget
as a promising and path-
breaking initiative.
Hinduja Group Co-
Chairman Gopichand P
Hinduja said the pro-
posed capital expendi-
ture of Rs 5.54 lakh
crores, 34.5 per cent high-
er than the current year,
augurs well for the infra-
structure, manufactur-
ing industry and job
creation and also wel-
comed the hike in the for-
eign direct investment
(FDI) cap for the insur-
ance sector.
London-based Caparo
Group founder Lord
Swraj Paul, whose com-
pany has business inter-
ests in India, took to Twit-
ter to congratulate the fi-
nance minister Sithara-
man and Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on the
Budget statement.
It should lead India to
the strength of what it
should be. @NarendraMo-
di you are the vision of
India which can be
achieved. The country has
great scope, he said.
Budget decoded: Self-confident India fights all adversities!
H
Calmness, gentleness, silence,
self-restraint, and purity:
these are the disciplines of
the mind. —Bhagwat Gita
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Office of Mr. Anurag Thakur
@Anurag_Office
The Union Budgets stresses
upon the dual purposes
of asset monetisation and
making infrastructure
financing more robust.
#AatmanirbharBharatKaBudget
Narendra Singh Tomar
@nstomar
Under the leadership of Prime
Minister @narendramodiji we
are moving towards a healthy
& strong India and this budget
is going to pave the way in that
direction. In this Budget every
category and every area has
been taken care of in totality.
#AatmanirbharBharatKaBudget
he litmus test to look at a budg-
et lies in the balancing act and
focusongrowthcentricparam-
eters. An intelligent finance
Minister will always take care
of balancing revenue and ex-
pendituresideof budgetonthe
onehandandshowingadoption
of growth centric face of budg-
et.Countercyclicalfiscalpolicy
wasonlytheoptionlefttomake
this Budget expansionary
.
Budget must reflect fiscal pru-
dence, certainty
, confidence,
sustainability features too.
The budget 2021-22 may be
certainly called as ‘Growth
Centric’ as major allocations
have been in focus areas like
Housing and urban affairs
(54581cr.), Health and Family
Welfare (73932 cr.), Education
(93224 cr.), Railways (110055
cr.), Road Transport and High-
ways (118101 cr.), Agriculture
and Farmers’ Welfare (131531
cr.),RuralDevelopment(133690
cr.), Home Affairs (166547 cr.),
Consumer Affairs, Food and
PublicDistribution(256948cr.)
and Defence (478196 cr.) and
hence this budget is dedicated
to infrastructure and health
sectorandwillfulfilthedream
of affordable housing.
Theassumptionsunderlying
the budget start with nominal
GDP growth, which itself is
highlyuncertain,unlikeinear-
lier years. Consensus among
economist is their on 9% real
growth in 2021 - 22 which, with
4% inflation should mean 13%
nominalgrowth.Evenwithout
any tax buoyancy it would pro-
vide significant fiscal space to
economy
. With regard to fiscal
deficit,ithasbeen9.5%of GDP
for20-21whiletargetedto6.8%
GDP in 21-22.
The fiscal deficit as percent-
ageof GDPisnotincontrolbut
in view of pandemic scenario
andhugeallocationof Rs.35000
crores for vaccination and oth-
er important priorities the op-
tions with FM were quite lim-
ited and given the limited op-
tion the expansionary budget-
arypolicywasneedof thehour.
Most of the economist, rating
agenciesandstockmarketana-
lyst have found the budget
quiteexcellentandclosetopub-
lic expectations as no further
taxes has been imposed, Status
quo has been maintained in di-
rect tax sphere showing long
term sustainability on direct
text provisions.
The concept of one man
company will ignite innova-
tions and boost start-ups in
the country
. That is why there
are a few start-ups in the
country which could get Uni-
corn status start-ups.
Housing and construction
to be proved as big job crea-
tives for skilled and Semi-
skilled workers. Housing sec-
tor has highest backward and
forward linkages which will
benefit around 236 industry
instantaneously
.
Though direct tax rates
have been kept unchanged
and no significant indirect
taxes have been imposed or
their rates have been un-
changed inspite of that there
seems to be sufficient cushion
regarding tax collection pre-
cedes in the country
.
Disinvestmentisanotherim-
portant area where path and
policy prescription has been
clarified. A disinvestment pro-
vision for 1.75 lakh crore will
boosttheeconomyorwillmake
adjustment in fiscal deficit. In-
crease in FDI limit to 74% in
Insurance sector will give a
Philip to financial services.
This budget has been laud-
ed as CAPEX budget. A capi-
tal expenditure of Rs 5.54
lakh crore that too with clari-
fied road map will upsurge
the pandemic shocked econo-
my in coming years.
Regarding total receipts
14% comes from direct taxes,
45% come from indirect taxes
includingGST,5%comesfrom
nondebtcapitalreceiptswhile,
36% are borrowings and other
liabilitieswhicharenecessary
to meet out expenditures.
On the other hand 16% of
expenditure goes to state as
their share of taxes and du-
ties, 10% finance commission
transfers, 14% central sector
schemes, 32% other expendi-
tures like pension, centrally
sponsored schemes, subsidies
etc. 8 % is defence expendi-
ture and finally 20% is spent
on interest payments.
If inflationwillnotbeableto
controlled as 4% than country
will fall in vortex of debt and
debt service bunder in econo-
my will be mounting. Revenue
expenditure is 11,40,576 crore
higher than revenue receipts
while capital expenditure is
11,40,676crorehigherthancap-
ital receipts. Which shows that
Govt. will have to cut the coat.
Allocation to MGNREGA,
(111500cr.)NationalEducation
Mission (34300cr.), National
Health Mission (37000cr.), Jal
JeevanMission(28700cr.),Met-
ro Projects (18,998cr.) will pro-
videtocreatejobsandimprove
literacy and happiness indica-
tors. These are government
flagship projects and schemes
to reduce inequalities.
Budget focuses on Aatam
Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Ho-
listic approach to health, Ener-
gy
,Road,Urban,RailwaySector
Projects,MITRASchemetocre-
ate world class infrastructure,
Road construction, National
rail plan, PPP mode for manag-
ing operational services, infra-
financing, recycling of ships,
subsidy support, launching of
Hydrogen energy mission will
putforththeeconomyaheadof
other similar economies.
As an economics professor
I am of the strong opinion
that budget brings optimism
and hope. Massive allocation,
massive vaccination, big push
to infrastructure, boost on
manufacturing production,
easy monetary conditions, ef-
fective demand pull accompa-
nied with supply side struc-
tural reforms will help allevi-
ating poverty, reducing ine-
quality, rapid growth with
justice. Fiscal consolidation
and debt sustainability are
possible only after growth.
‘Starve the Leviathan’ argu-
ment has forced the FM to opt
for pro cycle bias fiscal policy
.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
GROWTH CENTRIC
EXPANSIONARY BUDGET
T
PROFESSOR
ND MATHUR
Director, School of Humanities
and Social Sciences
Manipal University Jaipur
Year GDP Growth Fiscal deficit
(Average) (As % of GDP)
1999-2004 4.77 5.50
2004-2009 8.13 4.06
2009-2014 7.88 5.38
2014-17 8.67 3.82
2015-16 8.26 3.5
2016-17 7.04 3.5
2017-18 6.12 3.5
2018-19 6.10 3.40
2019-20 4.00 4.60
2020-21 -10.29 9.5
2021-22 -07.50 6.8
06
UNION BUDGET
2021-22
FM IN HER BUDGET SPEECH SAID 7 TEXTILE
PARKS WILL BE SET UP IN OVER 3 YEARS.
A GAS PIPELINE PROJECT WILL BE TAKEN UP IN
UNION TERRITORY OF JAMMU & KASHMIR.
PERSPECTIVE
BUDGETING FOR
A SELF-RELIANT
ECONOMY
he big Union Budget pie has been
distributed to boost growth in the
pandemic-hit economy with the ba-
sic idea of “spending, spending and
spending”. Finance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman pegged the fiscal deficit at 9.5
per cent for the current fiscal. The government,
she said, will borrow 22 lakh crore while the
expenditure has been pegged at Rs 34.83 lakh
crore, including 5.54 lakh crore of capital ex-
penditure. The fiscal deficit will come down to
6.8 per cent in 2022. The FM has set a modest
target---Rs 1.75 lakh crore---for disinvestment of
loss-making public sector units. Last year the
disinvestment target was 2.1 lakh crore but was
revised to only 32,000 crore as it fell drastically
short of the target. Even the new target looks
difficult to reach given the quality of account
books of PSUs being put on the block, barring
the Life Insurance Corporation which will be
listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange soon.
Money from divestment will be useful for the
government to bridge the yawning deficit.
Along with the loss-making IDBI, the govern-
ment proposes to privatise two more public sec-
tor banks, which has not found favour with crit-
ics of the budget.
The pandemic brought to the fore the decrep-
it health infrastructure in the country. It was
expected that this critical sector would get the
budgetary push that it deserved. The FM did not
disappoint as she marked Health and Wellbeing
as the number one pillar of the Budget. The al-
location for the sector has been raised by over
137 per cent with an outlay of Rs 2, 23, 846 crore
from Rs 94,452 crore in 2020-2021. But there’s a
catch. By calling it Health and Wellbeing, the
government has brought schemes like Univer-
sal Coverage of Water Supply, Mission Poshan
2.0 (to be launched), Vaccines, Health Systems
and others under its purview.
For the salaried class the Budget had nothing
to cheer. The Budget retains the previous In-
come-Tax slabs. The concession of no ITR filing
by senior citizens aged 75 years and above is in
reality deceptive. It is for those who only have
income from interest and pension and has con-
ditions which are a tad complicated for the sil-
vers of that age to follow. Worse, the government
proposes to tax interest above Rs 2.5 lakh on
Provident Fund contributions.
The agri cess being introduced on petrol and
diesel has sparked a debate that the move is
against federalism as the revenue from the cess
need not be shared with states. As some of the
states are already cash-strapped, it is like short-
changing them.
The Budget has been used for sending a po-
litical message to voters in poll bound West Ben-
gal, Tamil Nadu and Assam with the promise of
infrastructure development.
IN-DEPTH
T
Vol 2 Issue No. 68 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist.
Ahmedabad. Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

Office-bearers and members of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry watched Union Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting Budget for 2021-22 live and discussed its impact on trade,
industry and economy in Gujarat as well as the rest of the country. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
Union Budget
07
UNION BUDGET
2021-22
WORLD-CLASS FINTECH HUB TO CREATE
1.25 LAKH JOBS FOR THE YOUTH IN GUJ
ALLOCATION OF RS1,624 FOR SHIP RECYCLING
SECTOR IN ALANG TO BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE
GUJARAT
PUBLIC OPINION
STANDS DIVIDED
industry and economy in Gujarat as well as the rest of the country.
First India spoke to
various stakeholders
across the state to find
out what they think
about this year’s Union
Budget. While CR Patil,
the BJP’s state unit chief,
said it went “beyond
expectations”, and
industry representatives
deemed it a “healthy
budget”, the Congress
highlighted the lack of
relief in income tax. In
addition, some doubts
are being raised
regarding the lack of
clarity on the Centre’s
allocation to the health
sector and how good the
Budget will actually be
for start-ups.
I welcome the Union
Budget. While the
rest of the world
has been at a
standstill due to
the COVID-19 pan-
demic, India has
shown economic pro-
gress thanks to the vision
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The
Budget has many provisions to boost the
Atmanirbhar Bharat dream. This Budget
focuses on development—and more specifi-
cally—inclusive development. Nearly
Rs65,000 crore has been allocated for the
health sector, and four new institutes of vi-
rology are being planned keeping in mind
the current situation. Laboratories will also
be established in all districts.
—Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister, Gujarat
The Central govern-
ment has introduced
a two-tax theory
which will create
difficulties for the
middle class. The
government has
given us the lowest
GDP rate in 11
years, the lowest investment rate in 17
years, the highest unemployment rate in 45
years, and the lowest tax growth in two dec-
ades. The budget will make it difficult to
survive for many citizens.
—Amit Chavda, President, GPCC
The tax incentives an-
nounced for GIFT-
IFSC in the Budget
have reaffirmed
the Centre’s com-
mitment to devel-
oping GIFT City
as a global finan-
cial hub. The tax an-
nouncement would help in attracting
global players in the fund business, aircraft
leasing and financing business as well as
the offshore investment banking sector to set
up base here. We thank the Government of
India for continuously bringing in meas-
ures to facilitate businesses at GIFT-IFSC.
—Tapan Ray, MD Group CEO, GIFT City
This budget will guar-
antee an increase in
unemployment, in-
flation, and dis-
parities. Against
the promised em-
ployment of two
crores per year, 7.5
crore people have lost
their jobs in one year. There is a conspira-
cy to sell the government’s profit-making
companies.”
—Paresh Dhanani,
Leader of the Opposition, Gujarat Assembly
Emphasis has been
placed on start-ups.
But, we lack the eco-
system for start-
ups. There is not
enough research or
long-term plan-
ning. Start-ups
vanish in the sec-
ond and third stage, because they can’t
convince investors about viability. The
year-long extension for incentives to start-
ups is good, but I hope it is not misused.
The centre has disappointed in terms of
women’s development; instead of increasing
allocation, it has decreased it and clubbed
all programmes together.
—Ruzan Khambhata, Entrepreneur
The Central govern-
ment has not given
any relief in in-
come tax. This is
cheating, and an
injustice to honest
taxpayers. Today’s
union budget will
further increase eco-
nomic disparities and will add more
unemployment in the country. Other
countries gave cash to the public during
the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Modi
government has given money only to its
cronies.
—Manish Doshi,
|Chief Spokesperson, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee
Due to the COVID-19
pandemic, there has
been no increase in di-
rect or indirect taxes,
which is a welcome
step. Steel, steel prod-
ucts, steel parts and
steel scrap will get a lit-
tle cheaper due to re-
duced custom duty. As
a hub for casting, forg-
ing and auto parts,
Rajkot can expect raw
material costs to de-
crease. However, there
is no provision to in-
crease income. Overall,
it can be termed as a
balanced budget keep-
ing in view the ongo-
ing pandemic.
—Paresh Vasani, President,
Rajkot Engineering Association
This is a healthy budg-
et in the current sce-
nario. There were some
expectations—such as
changes in income-tax
slabs—which have not
been met. It is good
that the health segment
has been given impor-
tance along with edu-
cation and agriculture.
Changes in taxation
could see raw material
prices fall 5-7%, leav-
ing scope for industries
to survive. The indirect
Rs15,000 crore pack-
age to MSMEs will
benefit 18,500 units in
and around Rajkot.
—VP Vaishnav, President,
Rajkot Chamber of Commerce
Industry
The Union Budget has
created hype with its
137% hike for the
health sector, for
which it has set aside
Rs2.23 lakh crore.
However, there is no
clarity if the funds
will be used to strengthen primary,
CHC or referral hospitals. Of this, Rs35,000
crore is going towards COVID-19 vaccine dis-
tribution. The government has added just
Rs80,000 crore more than the current finan-
cial re-estimate and. expects the economy to
bounce back. This is not possible.
—Hemant Shah, Economist
I welcome the Union
Budget for the next
fiscal. The budget
has made provi-
sions for economic
development in
both Gujarat and
India. More money
has been allocated to the
state for GIFT City, and the announce-
ment for the ship breaking industry will
add more development to the state. The
budget overall is good and beyond expecta-
tions of people.
—CR Paatil, President, BJP Gujarat
Atmanirbhar dose...
Sitharaman said the in-
vestmentinhealthinfra-
structure has been sub-
stantiallyincreased.The
budget also had special
focus on the four elec-
tion-bound states with
allocation of `225,000
crore for infrastructure
projects in these states.
Tamil Nadu, West
Bengal, Kerala and As-
samarethemajorstates
going to polls in April-
May this year and the
budget comes at the
time of farmers agitat-
ing at Delhi borders
against the three farm
Bills passed in the mon-
soon session of Parlia-
ment in 2020.
Of these states, Si-
tharaman announced
maximum Rs 1.03 lakh
crore for Tamil Nadu.
In significant changes
to the taxation process,
Sitharaman announced
the scrapping of income
taxforseniorcitizensun-
der certain conditions,
new rules for removal of
doubletaxationforNRIs,
and a reduction in the
timeperiodof taxassess-
ments among other
measures. Startups will
get an extension in their
tax holiday for an addi-
tional year. Sitharaman
also announced that the
advance tax liability on
dividend income shall
ariseafterdeclarationof
paymentof dividend.
Dalal Street...
The benchmarks were
propelledbyacross-the-
board buying, with
banking and finance
stocks leading the
charge. IndusInd Bank
topped the Sensex gain-
ers’ chart with a jump
of 14.75 per cent, fol-
lowed by ICICI Bank,
Bajaj Finserv, SBI, LT
and HDFC. Only three
index components
closed in the red -- Dr
Reddy’s, Tech Mahin-
dra and HUL, shedding
up to 3.70 per cent.
FROM PG 1
New Delhi: The gov-
ernment on Monday
announced that two
public sector banks
and one general insur-
ance company will be
privatised and LIC will
be listed on the bours-
es in the financial year
2021-22 as part of the
consolidation in the
banking and insur-
ance sectors. It has
also announced Rs
20,000 crore recapitali-
sation of PSU banks.
Thegovernmentwill
start the process of pri-
vatisation for two pub-
lic sector banks in the
coming financial year,
Finance Minister Fi-
nance Minister said in
her budget speech.
However, the Minister
did not disclose the
names of the banks.
The government cur-
rently holds majority
stake in PSU banks.
The government is ex-
pected to bring down
the stake in the two
PSUbanksbelow51per
cent or sell the entire
stake to private owner-
ship. Bank unions are
likelytoopposethegov-
ernment’s initiative to
privatise PSU banks.
Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman
has said Life Insurance
Corporation (LIC) will
go for an initial public
offeringin2021-22.This
is likely to be a mega
IPO going by the Rs 32
lakhcroreassetsunder
management of LIC.
The government is ex-
pected to mop up a size-
able amount from the
LIC IPO, making the
life insurer one of the
largest firms in market
capitalisation. LIC has
already started the
spadework for the IPO.
Disinvestment of
Air India and Pawan
Hans would be com-
pleted in 2021-22, Fi-
nance Minister Nirma-
la Sitharaman said on
Monday while present-
ing the Union Budget
in which 3,224 crore
has been allocated to
the Civil Aviation Min-
istry for the next fiscal
year. The debt of Air
India, as of March 31,
2019, was 58,255 crore.
Government allocated
600 crore, 14.28 percent
lower than the current
fiscal, for regional con-
nectivity scheme Udan
for 2021-22.
Disinvestment to continue: LIC IPO in
FY22, Air India to conclude next fiscal

Gratefulness adds beauty to life
and takes nothing, you can be
grateful for the sun, the wind
and for the laughter of family and friends.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor, First India
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
08
2NDFRONT
NEW BJP NORMS MAYUPSET
PLANS OF FORMER COUNCILLORS
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty’s parliamentary
board has shattered
the dreams of many
party leaders in one
fell swoop. Its strict
new norms, put in
place to make way for
youngsters, will make
many senior leaders
ineligible to contest
the upcoming elec-
tions in municipal
corporations nagar-
palikas and, district
and taluka panchay-
ats across the state.
As BJP state unit
president CR Patil an-
nounced here on Mon-
day, “Party workers
above the age of 60,
councillors and pan-
chayat delegates who
have completed three
terms, and relatives of
leaders or sitting
MLA/MP office-bear-
ers will not be eligible
for tickets in the local
body elections.”
A few days ago, Patil
had directed workers
and leaders above the
age of 55 to not lobby
for party tickets.
The age limit and the
three-term clause will
mean about 60 council-
lors across the six mu-
nicipal corporations—
including at least 20 in
Ahmedabad, 13 in Va-
dodara and 11 in Ra-
jkot—cannot contest
the elections later this
month.
So far, the decision
seems to have gone
down well within the
party cadre, especially
among younger mem-
bers, who see this as a
chance to get a foot in
the door in terms of a
greater role. However,
it is to be seen how the
old guard will take it,
since there is always a
possibility that sea-
soned leaders might
try dirty tricks to sab-
otage the party’s pros-
pects, a person close to
development told First
India on Monday.
Commenting on the
BJP’s new norms, Man-
ish Doshi, the chief
spokesperson of the
Congress party said,
“It looks good on paper,
but one needs to wait
and see whether it is
politically viable.
Whether Patil is able to
implement this, or if
he is just paying lip ser-
vice to the youngsters
will only be known af-
ter the BJP list (of can-
didates) comes out.
First India News
Bhuj: Three teenage
boys playing on the
bank of a dry river
were buried alive
when a mound of
clay caved in on them
near Khavda village
in Kutch district, an
official said on Mon-
day
. The bodies of
Munir Kader Sama
(13), Raza Rashid
Sama (14) and Ka-
limulla Sama (16)—
all residents of Dhro-
bana village near
Khavda village—
were found late on
Sunday night.
Theboys,whowere
cousins, had been
playing inside a bun-
ker-like pit they had
dug on the river bank
atthetimeof theinci-
dent, Khavda police
sub-inspector JP Sod-
ha told the media.
The boys went
missing late Sunday
evening. In the night,
some villagers spot-
ted slippers of the
boys outside the pit
on the river bank,
Sodha added.
“As per the prima-
ry investigation,
when the boys were
playing inside the pit,
the clay suddenly
caved in, giving them
no chance to escape.
Although villagers
pulled the boys out
and rushed them to a
nearby hospital, they
were declared
brought dead by doc-
tors,” Sodha said,
adding that further
investigation is on.
The BJP’s parliamentary board meeting chaired by state unit president CR Patil and CM Vijay Rupani, saw state leaders and senior
ministers and leaders from city committees discuss possible candidates for the upcoming polls, in Gandhinagar, on Monday.
Age cut off, three-term limit could keep 60 leaders from contesting local body polls
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
state’s doctors began
a relay hunger strike
in Ahmedabad on
Monday, as part of
the nationwide pro-
test called by the
IMA against the Cen-
tre’s decision to al-
low Ayurvedic physi-
cians to perform cer-
tain types of surger-
ies.
Around 20 doctors
associated with Guja-
rat chapter of the In-
dian Medical Associa-
tion (IMA) sat on a day-
long hunger strike
outsidetheAhmedabad
Medical Association
hall on Ashram Road.
There are nearly 30,000
doctors in the IMA’s
Gujarat chapter.
IMA-Gujarat secre-
tary Dr Kamlesh Saini
said modern medicine
is different from Ayur-
veda, and the govern-
ment must not pro-
mote the “practice of
mixopathy” which al-
lows Ayurvedic doc-
tors to perform surger-
ies after a three-year
course.
As directed by IMA
headquarters, the re-
lay hunger strike
would take place in dif-
ferent cities of Gujarat
between February 1
and February 14, Dr
Saini said.
“To register our pro-
test against ‘mixopa-
thy’, the Gujarat
branch of the IMA has
launched its relay hun-
ger strike with 20 doc-
tors on Monday. An-
other batch will take
over on Tuesday,” he
added.
The hunger strike
will continue in
Ahmedabad until Feb-
ruary 04, following
which similar protests
would be organized in
other cities including
Vadodara and Surat
until February 14, Dr
Saini said.
“We demand the
withdrawal of the noti-
fication issued by the
Central Council of In-
dian Medicine (CCIM)
and the NITI Aayog
committee for integra-
tion (of all medicine
systems),” he added.
This is the second
major nation-wide pro-
test called by the IMA
in recent times against
the Centre’s decision
to allow postgraduate
Ayurvedic physicians
to perform certain
types of surgeries.
The IMA headquar-
ters has termed this
second round of pro-
test as “the freedom
struggle of modern
medicine”.
Last December, the
IMA had called for
the withdrawal of all
non-essential and
non-COVID-19 ser-
vices for 12 hours
against the CCIM’s
decision to allow
Ayurvedic doctors to
conduct certain sur-
gical procedures af-
ter completion of
their three-year PG
course, Saini said.
Gujarat doctors begin relay hunger strike against ‘mixopathy’
TAKING A STAND

Part of
nationwide
IMA protest
against
Centre’s
decision to
allow
Ayurvedic
physicians
to perform
surgeries
Twenty doctors began the strike on Monday; another batch will take over on Tuesday.
3 teens buried alive
in Kutch as clay
mound caves in
‘VAYAM RAKSHAMAH’
In keeping with its motto, ‘Vayam Rakshamah’, meaning, ‘We Protect’, the Indian Coast Guard has saved more than 10,000
lives and apprehended around 14,000 miscreants since its inception in 1977. The world’s fourth-largest Coast Guard
celebrated its 45th Raising Day on Monday with a parade of its vessels, seen here.
Leopard found
dead near A’bad
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: In an-
other case of man-
animal conflict, a
leopard was found
dead on the out-
skirts of the city on
Monday morning, a
forest department
official said. Based
on the injury marks
found on the feline,
officials suspect
that the animal had
hit by a vehicle.
The carcass was
spotted near Sanathal
crossroad, connecting
Sarkhej to Bavla town
near the ring road,
Ahmedabad’s Deputy
Conservator of Forest
Sakkira Begum said.
“It is unusual for a
leopard to be seen so
close to Ahmedabad
city. The forest depart-
ment has deployed a
team to analyse its
tracks to find out from
which direction it
came,” she said.
The carcass has been
sent to a government
facility for an autopsy,
the official said.
As per the 2016 cen-
sus, there were 1,395
leopards in Gujarat. In
2019, as many as 442
leopards were captured
from different parts of
the state after they en-
tered human settle-
ments, Gujarat Forest
Minister Ganpat Vasa-
va said in the state As-
sembly last year.
While 360 leopards
were released into the
wild, 82 remained in
captivity for being
“man-eaters” he had
informed the House.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
number of new COV-
ID-19 cases in Guja-
rat fell to 298 in the
24 hours ended 5 pm
on Monday
, the state’s
health department
said. This is the first
time the daily jump
has been under 300
since April 9, 2020,
when the state saw
219 new cases before
jumping to 326 new
cases the next day
.
There has also been
one new death, in Khe-
da, which takes the
state’s total death toll
to 4,388. With the 298
new cases reported on
Monday
, Gujarat’s total
COVID-19 case load
now stands at 2,61,838.
Of the total new cas-
es reported in the last
24 hours, Vadodara
city reported the high-
est number of cas-
es—65—while the dis-
trict’s rural areas re-
ported 12 cases. This
was followed by
Ahmedabad city with
63 cases; one new cases
was reported in rural
areas there.
Surat city had 35
cases while the rural
pockets had seven, and
Rajkot city witnessed
32 cases, with reports
of nine new cases com-
ing in from the dis-
trict’s rural parts.
Mehsana, Navsari,
Bhavnagar, Suren-
dranagar,andDanghad
no new cases, and the
other districts reported
single-digit figures.
There are currently
3,341 active cases
across Gujarat, with 30
patients on ventilators.
The state claims to
have achieved a 97.05%
rate of recovery
.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
state Congress party
on Monday evening de-
clared its first list of
candidates for the up-
coming local body elec-
tions, announcing can-
didates for five munici-
pal corporations in the
state including Surat,
Jamnagar, Bhavnagar,
and Vadodara.
Notably, the party
has not yet declared
any candidate for the
Ahmedabad Munici-
pal Corporation. It has
gone back to the draw-
ing board after the All
India Majlis-e-Itte-
hadul Muslimeen par-
ty (AIMIM) said it
would contest the up-
coming elections. How-
ever, Rachna Nandani-
ya, who quit the BJP
and joined the Con-
gress, received a ticket
to contest the elections
from Jamnagar.
Medics take a swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Ahmedabad.
nCoV update: State’s daily jump drops to below 300
Cong names nominees for
5 corporations in first list
Doctors at a nearby hospital declared the boys 'brought dead'.
WHAT HAPPENED
—FILE
PHOTO

ink never really goes
out of style, and it’s ac-
tually particularly on-
trend for the upcoming
2021 season. While it
may be associated with
summer, designers
showcase everything from pale
baby pinks to peachy shades
and shocking pinks on the run-
ways.
PINK BLOUSE
A pink blouse can be a stylish
option for either work or at the
weekend. The deep rose-pink
could easily be tucked into
high-waisted wide pants or a
pencil skirt or you could wear
loose over leggings.
PINK SWEATER
A soft pink sweater can be a
beautiful choice as the weather
starts to turn colder. You could
simply wear with your blue
jeans. Or, I also saw pink
teamed with olive green and
with beige on the designer run-
ways.
PINK BLAZER
I’m sure you already have a
blazer of some description in
your closet. But how about a
pink one like the Endless
Rose blazer below? You could
wear with a column or black
or navy underneath for an
elongating, slimming ef-
fect, or just pop over a
pair of jeans and a
white t-shirt.
PINK DRESS
A wrap style dress is univer-
sally flattering, and a plissé
dress could be a great alterna-
tive to your little black dress.
PINK JEANS
While you probably have black,
blue and white jeans in your
closet, a pair of pink jeans
could be a good addition. You
could style them in the same
way you do your white jeans for
summer.
PINK SHOES
Changing your shoes is an easy
way to update your outfits. You
could add a pop of pink to neu-
tral outfits in your closet.
PINK HANDBAG
If you’re more of a bag person
than a shoe person, you could
update your looks with your
handbag and what can be
better than a pink one!
If you opt for bright pink,
you can let one bold, pink
piece do the talking and
keep the rest of your outfit
low-key or you can mix
your pinks to make a big-
ger statement.
AHMEDABAD, TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 2, 2021
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
Pink is one of those colours that divides opinion.
You probably either love to wear it or never wear
pink at all. City First brings plenty of ways to wear
it in a chic and stylish way, whether you choose a
pale pastel shade or a bright shocking pop of pink!
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
P
GO PINK!

10
ETC
F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
KHUSHBOO JAIN, Fashion Blogger
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Don’t be hasty in paying up
for something without
getting all the details. A
health initiative promises to
keep you fit and on the go. Forging
cordial relations with those you meet
at work will be in your favour. Your
moodiness may cause friction at
home.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
You will succeed in
enhancing your earning. A
business deal may have to
be executed on a different
date. An outdoor activity is likely to
give you a chance for sweating out.
Family would be supportive for those
trying to settle at a new place. Devote
few hours to meditation.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
It may appear tough to
please a workplace senior
as he/she expects more
from you. Devoting time to
family will provide immense
happiness. Adopting a better lifestyle
is indicated for some and will keep
them fit and healthy. Excellent
returns are expected from property.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Health remains excellent.
Arrears or back payments
are likely to be received. Day
proves favourable for those
holding responsible positions.
Someone’s proximity on the domestic
front is likely to keep you contented.
Those spiritually inclined will be able to
set out on a pilgrimage.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
New avenues of earning
will help secure the
financial front. You will
manage to nip a medical
problem in the bud and save yourself
from problems. Your decisions on
the professional front will turn out to
be correct. Your hands will be full in
entertaining the differing demands.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
You are apple of your
parents eyes. A property
issue you are apprehensive
about is likely to be settled
amicably. Your attempts to gain
popularity on the social front are likely
to meet with partial success. An ego
clash on the work front cannot be ruled
out for some.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Although expenditure rises,
you will manage things
well. This is not the right
time to disclose your
business intentions; keep your
competitors guessing. A perfect
understanding with spouse will help
in gauging moods and pre-empting
showdowns.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Good returns are foreseen
on an investment. Only a
professionally sound
strategy will succeed in the
kind of competitive environment that
you are in. Peace and quiet prevails
on the home front for you to rest and
recoup. Addition or alteration to
existing property is foreseen.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Keep control over
expenditure. Sticking to
your exercise regime will
begin to show positive
results. Avoid being lazy on the
professional front. Family will be
most caring and do much to make
you comfortable. You are likely to
harbour some resentment.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You can expect the
financial situation to
improve substantially.
Successfully completing
an assigned job will give you the
edge at work. Your dogged
determination will keep you fit.
Keeping a positive outlook will help
in spreading positivity at home.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
You can become money
conscious and come into
the ‘saving’ mode. A
colleague can prove a great
asset in helping settle pending tasks.
You are likely to please the family
members by taking them to their
favourite haunt. Legal help regarding
a property matter will benefit.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Whatever you earn today is
likely to be spent. Chances
of getting a new job look
bright for young profes-
sionals. Home environment will
encourage you to relax and let your
hair down. Those who have applied
for a house or plot may get a step
closer to acquiring it.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
agdeep Singh, a PR
Practitioner in
Jaipur, has recent-
ly compiled his po-
ems. They have
been published by
the well-known In-
do-English poetry publish-
er, Writers Workshop in
Kolkata. The man behind
Writers Workshop, Prof. P.
Lal said for his poetry:
“Apart from their original-
ity and sensitivity, they
have the rare quality in an
Indian poet of irony and
readiness to laugh at one-
self or about otherwise se-
rious themes.” First India
interviewed the poet, whose
poems will also be featured
in the Jaipur Literature
Festival (JLF) in February
.
Q:Congratulations on
compiling your first
collection of poems?
A:Thank you. I have not
been very organized in
terms of keeping my po-
ems safely. I have lost
quite a number of them.
Many of them were
scribbled on pieces of pa-
per which I have mis-
placed. However, from
the motivation of family
and friends, I have com-
piled 46 poems for this
anthology. These poems
range from 1976 to 2019.
Q:I can see a wide variety
in your poems. They
cover a huge landscape.
A:True. There is a wide va-
riety in the 46 poems I
have compiled. They
deal with vicissitudes of
life, the inevitability of
death, pangs of love and
even the intense strug-
gle to write poetry. They
also touch a number of
other topics like that of
a holocaust survivor and
one even on the city of
Jaipur as well. Here, I
am imagining, standing
under the statue of Ma-
haraja Sawai Jai Singh
II at Statue Circle, be-
seeching him not to step
down from his marble
cenotaph or else he will
get a shock to see the
mess the city of Jaipur
is in. One special feature
of my poems, of which I
am very proud, are
my poems on personas
like Hemingway, Ham-
let, Sylvia Plath and the
even the protagonist of
the well- known novel,
Catch-22, ‘Yossarian’. I
think I have very deftly
compared dithering of
Hamlet in the play
with the Nike logo: ‘Just
Do It’.
Q:The name of your an-
thology, ‘My Epitaph’,
is such a negative title.
Why have you chosen
such a title?
A:Though my anthology
does have death poems –
this particular poem is
not a death poem. It por-
trays how one feels that
one has not achieved
much in his life. The po-
et’s epitaph ultimately
says that he did nothing.
The term, ‘cold, hard
stone’ in the poem sym-
bolisesthestruggleinlife.
There are death poems
which are strong and can
even disturb. One is even
on the Chandpole crema-
torium, which states that
ultimately I will be burnt
to ashes here.
Q:All your poems are in
free verse. Have you
never attempted a
rhyme poem?
A:Most of the contempo-
rary poetry is written in
free verse. In free verse,
one need not rhyme or
there need not be a par-
ticular format of stanzas.
However, that doesn’t
mean that one doesn’t
have to discipline oneself
in writing free verse. A
method has to be fol-
lowed. The basic rhythm
should be there and in
free verse, you can use
literary devices like allit-
eration, repetition of
linesandof course,smart
useof metaphors,similes
and onomatopoeia.
Q:Are you particularly
fond of any poem?
A: For a poet all his poems
are like his children. It is
difficult to choose just
one. I have written both
subjective (personal feel-
ings) and objective (not
influence by personal
feelings) poetry. I agree
with those who have read
my poems that they are
‘dark’. I don’t think I can
write light verse or lim-
ericks and doggerels.
However, in the past 10
months of the pandemic,
I think I have written my
most mature poetry
which does not appear in
this collection. For in-
stance, three or four po-
ems on the pandemic it-
self.
Q:Hardly any magazines
or journals publish po-
etry these days so what
is the future of genre of
poetry?
A:Thankfully, there are a
lot of online poetry por-
tals – some of them very
good. One can contribute
one’s verses on such por-
tals and get immediate
good feedback. I also
posted my poem entitled
Hemingway on a Hem-
ingway online group
which started a fiery de-
bate on the poem as well
as the writer. Similarly,
the same happened when
I posted my poem on Syl-
via Plath on her online
portal which again gen-
erated a lot of critical
comments. Most of the
comments were appreci-
ative and they gave me a
great high.
Q: You have written some-
wherethatapoembrings
about a catharsis.
A:It does. If the poet or
writer is under stress
for whatever reason,
any work of art or his or
her writings can pro-
vide relief by way of re-
lease from the repressed
emotions. Thereby pro-
viding relief from
stress, pain and suffer-
ing. And it is not only
for the writer but even
the reader can feel the
catharsis within him-
self. Like one does after
watching a play which
brings about catharsis
in the audience.
Q:Are you planning to
come out with another
anthology of poems?
A:Yes. As I said, I have writ-
ten, what I think is some
very mature poetry in
the year 2020. These po-
ems don’t figure in this
anthology. Hopefully,
soon I shall come out
with another collection.
“IT’S AN INTENSE STRUGGLE
TO WRITE POETRY”
JAGDEEP SINGH
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
J
Jagdeep Singh

ETC
11
I
t has been three weeks since
Anushka Sharma and Vi-
rat Kohli entered the
parenthood phase and
looks like the couple is to-
tally loving it. After
sharing the big news
that they were proud
parents to a baby
girl on February 11,
Anushka took to In-
stagram on Monday
to share her daugh-
ter’s first glimpse.
While the couple
did not reveal their
daughter’s face, they did
introduce her as Vamika
to the world.
Anushka and Virat can be seen
standing adorably as they hold
daughter Vamika. The photo has
received lot of love on social me-
dia and several celebrities also
took to the comments
section to show
love. —Agency
Action sequence
REVEALED
A
ditya Roy Kapur is currently film-
ing for a big action sequence in
Mumbai’s Filmcity, and has
trained for five months to per-
fectly showcase the overall action in the
film, OM: The Battle Within directed by Ka-
pil Verma. Revealing details about the scene,
Verma in-
forms, “Aditya
Roy Kapur is
p r e s e n t l y
shooting for a
massive ac-
tion sequence.
A huge county
jail set has
been erected in
Filmcity and the
scene involves
Adi’s character
to rescue some-
one from the
prison.
—Agency
B
lake Lively re-
calls the time
she felt inse-
cure about her
body after she wel-
comed Betty in her
life with Ryan Reyn-
olds. Betty is Blake’s
and Ryan’s third kid.
The actress revealed
that instead of feeling
proud of her body
which nourished the
life within, she felt in-
secure as most of the
famous brands
wo u l d n’ t
suit her.
She encour-
ages brands that
make women
feel proud of who
they are.
—ANI
Beautiful Boy
anessa Morgan and Michael Kopech have been bless-
ed with a baby boy. It is unclear when the baby was
born since the couple has maintained privacy for
their newborn, but the couple is together and has
happily welcomed the baby. Vanessa Morgan en-
joyed working even when she was 9 months preg-
nant. —ANI
A
amir Khan took a
break from Laal
Singh Chaddha, to
shoot a cameo for
his friend, Amin Hajee’s
directorial debut, Koi
Jaane Na in Jaipur. The
actor is back in Mumbai
and all geared up to get
back to his own film, Laal
Singh Chaddha. In doing
so, Aamir Khan has de-
cided to turn off his phone
completely from Monday
so that he doesn’t feel dis-
tracted. —Agency
Switching
off the phone
Happy Birthday!
O
n legendary actor-
comedian Brah-
manandam’s birth-
day on Monday, Ram
Charan shared a fun selfie
with him and also penned
a sweet note. The actor
shared a throwback pic-
ture that also features
Upasana and Nihai-
ka Konidela. The
RRR star wrote,
“Wishing our king
of comedy and
most loved Pad-
ma Shri. Brah-
manandam Un-
cle a Very Happy
Birthday !!”
—Agency
It’s a baby boy!
A
ctor-comedian
Kapil Sharma
and Ginni
Chatrath be-
came parents to a
baby boy on Monday
morning. Kapil an-
nounced the ar-
rival of their sec-
ond child on Twit-
ter early in the
morning and said
both the baby and
Ginni were
healthy. His social
account was
flooded with con-
gratulatory mes-
sages from the fans.
Right from Bolly-
wood to Television
celebrities, all con-
gratulated the couple
and wished the baby
all good luck.
—Agency
V
In Retrospect
Much awaited
name revealed
Anushka Sharma
...her post
Kapil Sharma and Ginni Chatrath
Ram Charan’s post
Vanessa Morgan
Blake Lively
Aamir Khan
Poster of the film
His tweet

12
CITY BUZZ
WHAT BUDGET?
As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Union Budget 2021 on Monday,
City First talked to a few people who paid close attention to the gender budgeting!
t’s that time of the
year! The time
where the progress
of a nation is inex-
tricably linked
with the allocation
of its budget. While
all eyes were on Finance Minister Nirmala Sithara-
man, who presented the Un-
ion Budget 2021 on Monday,
there was a particular sec-
tion of the society that paid
close attention to the gen-
der budgeting. The pandem-
ic job cut hit women in
various fields. They expect-
ed the Central government
to announce steps to push
women labour participa-
tion rate in the budget.
From Palaniappan Chid-
ambaram to Nirmala Si-
tharaman, for years, India’s
finance ministers have
promised to improve wom-
en’s welfare through higher
and more focused govern-
ment spending. Gender in-
equality remains rife in
other aspects of Indian life;
however, better-implement-
ed gender budgeting could
address these inequalities.
This type of gender budget-
ing, which applies a gender
lens to expenditure and pri-
oritizes gender-specific out-
comes, has emerged as a
popular way for govern-
ments across the world to
empower women and im-
prove gender equality
.
While going down the
memory lane, we recalled
Nirmala Sitharaman say-
ing, “This is a budget for
every woman wanting to
stand up and being counted”
as she presented the budget
2020. This year, women from
various walks of life hoped
for certain measures includ-
ing women employment and
ways to boost women entre-
preneurship from the union
budget2021.CityFirsttalked
to a few readers from Ra-
jasthan, Gujarat and Uttar
Pradesh to know their view
on the Union Budget 2021
and if it has anything spe-
cial for women!
KARISHMA GWALANI
karishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in
I
The budget is
full of hope snd
promises to
accelerate the
economic growth in short
to medium term but the
key lies in execution and
government’s control over fiscal
deficit within target 9.5%.
—APRA KUCHHAL, RAJ
The only thing which I look forward to is
women would be allowed to work in all
categories and also in night shifts with
adequate protection. If implemented, can
be a great step in terms of women empowerment,
however, seeing the past record, women safety
has always been a big question mark in India so
it’s important that government should give a detailed specification
of the term ‘adequate safety’ first because this term can be taken
each to his own to manipulate things.
—SHAIKH UZMA JAMAL, UP
Every year, our Finance Minister comes up with new poli-
cies to allocate gender-based budget with the hope that
it would eradicate the gender inequality in India. And yet,
there isn’t much of a progress. This year too, I’m hoping
for better policies and even better implementation to see the actual
difference. —SHIPRA MAHESHWARI, GUJ
SPEAKUPS
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
MEET GREET!
Speaker Dr CP Joshi and RCA President Vaibhav Gehlot met in
Nathdawara on Monday, Vaibhav Gehlot is on a personal visit to
Udaipur and he visited Nathdawara too.
He met Lakshyaraj Singh, a member of the erstwhile royal family
of Mewar and also paid a courtesy visit to the residence of RCA
secretary Mahendra Sharma.
Cabinet Minister Saleh
Mohommad celebrated his
birthday with family and friends
on Monday, February 1.We wish
him all the best!
Minister Parsadi Lal Meena
celebrated his birthday on
Monday, February 1, with his
family and friends. We wish
him all the best!
Mumtaz Patel, daughter of senior congress leader late Ahmed
Patel visited Jaipur with her family and stayed and spent quality
time with Bina Kak, a dear and old family friend. Mumtaz met
CM Ashok Gehlot also during her visit.
DURING THE DAY!
Women safety and empowerment
CITY FIRST
C
ommissioner of
Police Anand
Srivastava inau-
gurated Women’s
Safety and Empowerment
Awareness Campaign at the
Police Commissionerate on
Monday
. The campaign will
continue till February 15.
The poster of the campaign
wasalsolaunchedduringthe
event. Rahul Prakash men-
tionedthatthecampaignhas
been initiated under the
‘
Awaaz’programlaunchedby
the police department. The
campaign was followed by a
bikerallyledbyDeputyCom-
missioner of Police (Metro),
Richa Tomar, Nirbhaya
squad, women and police
personnel. On the occasion,
AnandSrivastavamentioned
that it is important for our
society to take care of its
daughters. Crimes against
women are at the peak and it
isn’tacceptabletoliveamong
this exploitation.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
IAS Shubhra Singh and
IAS Pawan Kumar Goyal
celebrated their birthdays
on Monday, February 1. We
wish them all the best!
—PHOTOS BY SUMAN SARKAR
HAPPY B’DAY!
SPOTTED!
RAJ: MLA Rafiq Khan attended the Poshbada
Mahotsav program at Jawahar Nagar on
Sunday. Many councilors, social workers and
regional people were present on the occasion.
President Dilip Kumar Meena, Congress
Committee, Adarsh Nagar Block was also there.
GUJ: The Space Applications Centre (SAC) under
the aegis of the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) organised an ‘UNKNOWN PLANET’ exhibition
of recent artworks by Rohit Zaveri at Hutheesingh
Visual Art Centre in Ahmedabad on Monday. The
exhibition was inaugurated by Nilesh M.Desai,
Director, SAC/ISRO and curated by Giriraj Kadia.
The exhibition will remain open till Sunday, February
21 daily from 4-8 p.m. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
RAJ: Xaviers College, Jaipur organised The
Xavier Alumni election for the year 2021
on Saturday. All the committee members
participated in the election and elected the
Xaviers College Alumni working committee
where 7 executive members were appointed
to various positions, including Aparna Joshi as
President, Aamir Khan as Vice President, Nikita
Batra as General Secretary, Kapil Chopra as
Joint Secretary and Payal Goyal as Treasurer of
Xavier College Alumni Association.
Nirmala Sitharaman
Pushingbeyondlimits
A
megabootcamp
was held under
the 12th edition
of AU Bank
Jaipur Marathon or-
ganised by Sanskriti
Yuva Sanstha and
World Trade Park at Jal
Mahal Ki Pal and Ex-
treme Sports and
Fitness Centre,
Vaishali Nagar on
Sunday
. Gearing up
for the upcoming mara-
thon on February 14,
AU Bank Jaipur is
spreading awareness
and benefits of good
health and fitness. The
camp was led by Ra-
jasthan’s running and
health coach Mahesh
Dwivedi, Dinesh
Chaudhary, Shyam Ya-
dav and Zumba coach
Nitika. Hundreds of
Jaipurites were seen
sweating during the
camp. On this occa-
sion, Mukesh
Mishra, CEO of AU
Bank Jaipur Mara-
thon, said that there is
a lot of enthusiasm
among Jaipurites re-
garding the upcoming
marathon.
—CITY FIRST
During the boot camp
During the poster launch
Bina Kak with Irfan, Mumtaz, Miriam and Zayra
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was spotted at Jaipur International Airport on
Monday, as he was departing to Mumbai after his shoot in the Pink City.
In an exclusive conversation with First India, Aamir said, “I celebrated
Republic Day in Jaipur, and as this city is a historic place, I am really
happy I got this opportunity.” —PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR
SPOTTED!

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