Union Budget: Here's what's good and bad

Mumbai: Lauding his government’s work in the last five years, which saw a complete reversal of policy paralysis and continued and structured reforms, interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented the vote-on-account Budget on Friday, in a last ditch bid to woo the electorate with several popular measures. Goyal also did a lot of chest beating, highlighting his government’s achievements in the last five years. 

Here is what is up:

231 billion dollar FDI attraction  

98 per cent rural sanitation coverage achieved

5 lakhs plus villages open defecation free

10 per cent quota for economically weaker sections

Rural road construction tripled, worth Rs 19000 crore

Rs 60000 crore dedicated to MNREGA

10 lakhs benefited from AYUSHMAN Bharat scheme worth Rs 3000 crore

Rs 3 lakh crore recovered in favour of banks and creditors

Fortis health up by 0.03 per cent in Nifty 50

Maruti 3.26 per cent up in Nifty 50

Nifty 50 up by 0.023 per cent

NCC up by 1.2 Per cent

Kisan yojana worth Rs 6000 crore per year for vulnerable farmers (overall 12000 crore)

Rashtriya gokul yojana allocated Rs 750 crore in current fiscal

Current account deficit expected to be 2.5 per cent of GDP this year

Rs 19000 crore allocated for Gram Sadak Yojana

Gratuity limit increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh

EPFO membership has increased by 2 crore in 2 years

2 per cent interest subvention for animal husbandry & fisheries farmers

All farmers hit by natural calamity to get interest subvention of 5 per cent

Pension scheme to benefit 10 crore workers in unorganised sector

Ujjwala Yojana:Next year we will achieve target of 8 crore connections

MSME sector to obtain Rs 1 crore loan less than 59 minutes

Average rate of inflation down, dropped to 4.6 per cent

Fiscal deficit brought down to 3.4 per cent in FY18-19

Inflation in December 2018 drops to 2.19 per cent

tax slab increased to 5 lakhs

Individuals with gross income of Rs 6.5 lakh annually will not have to pay any tax after considering investments of Rs 1.5 lakh in tax saving schemes.

Here is what is down:

0.06 per cent of all tax returns rejected after scrutiny

Expenditure to rise by 13 per cent from 2018-19 to 2019-20

 Speculation has risen that the government may announce a universal basic income (UBI) in the interim budget as a poverty alleviation drive. The Centre may announce some form of cash transfer in the form of UBI. Though, during the whole budget session, the interim finance minister didn't utter a single word about the UBI.