Govt committed towards economic equality, opened over 26 crore accounts for poor: President Pranab Mukherjee on Day 1 of Budget Session

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee outlined the Government’s agenda while addressing the joint session of both the houses of the parliament. Convening the first day of the Budget session, Mukherjee termed it a historic session due to merger of Railway and Union Budget.

Lauding the black money fight, Mukherjee said the resilience shown in fight against black money was remarkable, adding the core of all government policies is the welfare of the common man and the needy.

He said the government was taking giant strides in helping the downtrodden and needy.

“Financial inclusion is the key to poverty alleviation. More than 26 crore Jan Dhan accounts have been opened for the unbanked,” said Mukherjee.

Mukherjee said more than Rs 2 lakh crore has been provided through Rs 5.6 crore loans sanctioned under Prime Minister’s various schemes.
“Rs 16,000 crore given to self-help groups in the current financial year, 1.5 lakh post offices to function as payments banks. Close to 13 crore poor have been covered under various social security schemes,” said President Mukherjee.

Mukherjee also spoke about several energy schemes undertaken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian Government.

“Over 11,000 LED bulbs distributed under PM's UJALA Scheme and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will make clean energy accessible to the poor,” said Mukherjee.