Pre-election Budget: Sops for farm sector, seniors, health cover for poor

The finance minister Arun Jaitley also introduced a 10% tax on long-term capital gains over Rs 100,000

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2018-19 on Thursday while dealing with multiple pressures. The current fiscal year, 2017-18, was a year of severe disruptions, including especially the introduction of the goods and services tax or GST, and Jaitley pointed out that he had lost at least a month of indirect tax revenue as a consequence. General elections are fast approaching, and the agricultural sector needed support. Jaitley thus chose to deviate from the path of fiscal consolidation to which he had previously committed; the fiscal deficit for the ongoing year will be 3.5 per