Interim Budget was just a 'trailer', more to follow after polls: PM

The financial support of Rs 6000 to each of the marginal farmers, which will involve a total outlay of Rs 75,000 crore, is not a one-time affair but will be given every year annually, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday and contrasted it with the previous UPA government's one-time loan waiver of Rs 70,000 crore.

Addressing rallies in Thakurnagar and Durgapur in West Bengal, he said provisions in the interim Budget, including tax exemption on the income of up to Rs 5 lakh, was just a "trailer" and more will follow in the main budget after the Lok Sabha polls, if his government returns to power.

"What is 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' is evident in this (interim budget 2019). It has something for every section of the society," PM Modi said.

"In the interim Budget, individuals with up to 5 lakh taxable income have been exempted from the tax. This is just the trailer. There is more to follow. This move is going to benefit around 3 crore individuals of the middle class," he said.

"This is just the beginning. The main Budget after the Lok Sabha election will have much more for the youth, farmers, and other sections of the society," the Prime Minister said.

Referring to the budgetary provision of Rs 6,000 for marginal farmers annually, he said, "In the history of independent India, no government has brought such a huge and beneficial scheme for the farmers."

He said 12 crore small farmers will benefit from this scheme.

Contrasting it with the loan waiver scheme of the previous UPA government, he said the Congress-ruled dispensation in 10 years announced Rs 70,000 crore for the farmers, which was a one-time affair.

"Our scheme is not one-time, but yearly," he emphasised, adding that in 10 years, it will involve a funding of 7.5 lakh crore, many times more than the amount offered by the Congress.

The Prime Minister also alleged that the loan waiver scheme of the UPA government, announced ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, had benefited only big farmers and even "those who were not farmers".

Talking about the initiatives taken by his government since 2014, the Prime Minister said, "It is the result of these efforts of the government that the rate of inflation, which used to be around 10 per cent in previous governments, has been around 4 per cent in the last four and half years.