Jaitley's challenge was to address issues of poor: Rudy

Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday said that one of the biggest challenges before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the union budget before the Parliament was to address the issues of the poor.

"The challenge for the Finance Minister was how to address the issues of poor, which is one of the biggest challenges for the government. Then, the question was how you address the issue of infrastructure. All this was clubbed with the issue of fiscal deficit which was left for us at around 4.1 percent. And then all clubbed with growth, how you can maintain a balance of growth with all these constraints," Rudy told ANI.

"When you talk about growth, you talk about investment, you talk about employment. I think, in this budget, Jaitley has been able to come to a point where he has addressed all this keeping next five years in mind and there is a consolidated approach as far as the budget is concerned. Especially, the fiscal deficit which he has brought down to three percent," he added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced a host of measures in Union Budget 2015-16, including the slashing of corporate tax to 25 per cent from 30 percent over the next four years and the deferment of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules or GAAR by two years.

He also announced that the government will target a 3.9 per cent fiscal deficit for year starting April 1, 2015, adding that the real GDP growth is expected to be 7.4 percent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also hailed the Union Budget for 2015-16 as a budget with a clear vision, and one that is progressive, positive, practical, pragmatic and prudent.