Budget 2017 a perfect example of transforming governance, says Ness Wadia

Commending Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for announcing a budget that has put the country first, and has addressed inclusive growth covering various sectors of the economy, businessman Ness Wadia applauded the minister for the much needed reforms and proposals.

"Demonetisation was a bold and decisive strike by government in a series of measures to arrive at a new norm of real GDP," said Wadia.

The budget has given a big boost to rural economy and infrastructure. The increase of 24 percent in total allocation for rural, agri and allied sectors for 2017-18 is a welcome step, which will benefit our farmers.

Healthcare has received a much needed push with the setting up of two new AIIMS in Jharkhand and Gujarat and creation of additional 5,000 post graduate seats for specialist doctors to support healthcare at various levels.

Aadhaar based health cards for senior citizens is also an attempt to make healthcare more broad based and inclusive.

"The proposed simplification of the recruitment process in Government jobs, one of the backbone of the country, is a big fillip that helps millions of job aspirants. I am personally very happy and hopeful that this will alleviate the pains, the bureaucracy, reduce corruption and create a level playing field," added Wadia.

It is also pleasing to see the enhanced budget allocation, of about Rs. 28,000 crores, for the welfare of women and children schemes across all Ministries and this underlines the Government's commitment to women empowerment.

"We all know that alleviation of poverty will be the real accelerator of growth and the Government's aim to bring 1 crore households out of poverty and make 50,000 gram panchayats poverty-free by 2019 will go a long way in changing global perceptions about India. DigiGaon initiative that enables telemedicine, education and skilling through digital technology has the potential to accelerate the pace of bringing rural India into the mainstream," he added.

He further said that the sanitation and open defecation free villages along with national rural drinking water programme are what India really needs and the budget has rightly given priority to these areas.

Concluding his views on the budget, Wadia said that overall the budget was prepared keeping the future growth of the country in mind.

The focus on transforming governance and lives of people, coupled with a sincere attempt by the government to push the pyramid from bottom up is what India really needs.