LIVE: India's active Covid cases below 168,000, TN to partly reopen schools

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gave his monthly radio speech 'Mann Ki Baat' on Sunday, speaking about the coronavirus and briefly about the farmer protests a day before his government presents the country’s annual Budget.

The Budget is expected to boost spending on job-creation and rural development to mend an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will likely raise allocation for development, put more money in the hands of the average taxpayer to boost consumption and ease rules to attract foreign investments when she presents the budget Monday in Delhi.

The Budget for 2021-22 should be seen as part of packages Sitharaman has announced in the last 10 months to offset the impact of nationwide lockdowns, said Modi on Friday. Modi’s radio speech—the first this year and 73rd in the series—comes as farmer unions continue their protests against three agriculture laws his government enacted in September.