Congress' Rahul Gandhi lists three sectors that needs boost in Union Budget 2021

Ahead of presentation of Union Budget 2021, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and listed three points stating that these must be included in the Budget. He said that the Budget should support MSMEs, farmers and workers to generate employment. He further said that the Budget 2021 must increase healthcare expenditure to save lives and added that it must increase Defence expenditure to safeguard the borders.

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Earlier, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala took a dig at the Centre and asked if "Maximum slogan and Minimum work" government will live upto expectations. He issued a challenge to the Finance Minister and said that she should "travel beyond thinking and execution paralysis" to meaningful delivery for the welfare of people. Similarly, Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill taunted the paperless budget and said that the reading of Budget from Made in India tab would only make sense if the contents of budget generate money and jobs for people. 

Meanwhile, MoS Anurag Thakur offered prayers at his residence and asserted that the Union Budget will be in accordance with people's expectations. He said that the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will function on mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas'. Highlighting the benefits of Aatmanirbhar package, he said that those packages gave new direction to India and protected it during the pandemic. He also said that the Aatmanirbhar stimulus helped in bringing economy back on track swiftly. Later, Anurag Thakur and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the President of India and then entered the Parliament ahead of presentation of Budget at 11 AM. The budget 2021 assumes greater significance as it comes amid the COVID pandemic which has caused economic disruption.

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Economic Survey 2020-2021

Giving a preview to the Budget 2020-21, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the Economic Survey that details the state of the economy, ahead of the government's Budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021. The Economic Survey 2020-21, authored by a team led by Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, details the state of different sectors of the economy as well as reforms that should be undertaken to accelerate growth. The Indian economy can contract by 7.7% in the current financial year ending on March 31 and the growth could be 11% in the next financial year, according to the Economic Survey. 

The CEA explained how the 'humane approach' to the pandemic 'saved lives and livelihood' as India battled COVID-19, stating  that India's stringent lockdown helped save 37 lakh cases and 1 lakh lives. While the lockdown resulted in a 23.9 per cent contraction in GDP in Q1, the recovery has been a V-shaped one as seen in the 7.5 per cent decline in Q2 and the recovery across all key economic indicators, experienced a V-shaped recovery since then aided by a stable currency, comfortable current account, burgeoning forex reserves, and encouraging signs in the manufacturing sector output. The IMF has predicted a 11.5% growth rate for India in FY-22, followed by a fall to 6.5% in FY-23.

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