Union Budget took notice of the marginalized: RS Prasad

Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday hailed the first budget introduced in the Parliament by the NDA Government, saying that it took serious notice of equity concerns of the poor, underprivileged and marginalised.

"In the main budget, there is a basic philosophy. And, it is equity with growth. India has debated too long as to how the bread shall be distributed but we have rarely discussed as to how the size of the bread needs to be enlarged so that the distribution becomes easier. Therefore, we have taken serious notice of equity concerns of the poor, of the underprivileged, of the marginalized," Prasad said at the National Association for Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) here.

"There was a philosophy as to how railway can contribute in the building of the nation from passenger amenity to good governance to infusion of technology including IT in a big way. There was a vision, there was a philosophy," he added.

Prasad also said that the Union Budget 2015-16 insisted upon "innovation on growth, on creating new synergy and enabling atmosphere for the people who do business."

Talking about the 'Digital India' initiative, Prasad said that the electronic manufacturing in the country needs to be given a major push.

"If 'Digital India' is to succeed, if in India we have to have enormous potential of electronic manufacturing with million mobile phones, sim cards. India needs to manufacture form medical electronics to defence electronics," he added.

According to reports, the NASSCOM said that the budget is a mixed bag and that several chances were missed to improve the lot of startups and services companies in the country.

Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley who presented the Budget for the fiscal 2015-16 in the parliament on Saturday announced a host of measures including the slashing of corporate tax to 25 per cent from 30 percent over the next four years and the General Anti-Avoidance Rules or GAAR would be deferred 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.