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The country will add 1.25 lakh kilometers of roads under phase III of PM Gram Sadak Yojana spending ₹ 80,250 crore. While presenting budget allocation for the ministry of roads and highways, the Finance minister mentioned the projects undertaken in the last four years. She said, “ The <keyword id="2844663" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharatmala">Bharatmala</keyword>, Sagarmala and Udaan projects have worked towards reducing rural and urban divide.” She also called for One Nation, One Card for connectivity. Sitharaman also pushed for public private in metros to develop metros across the country and aid completion of sanctioned projects. The metro rail project has also been a milestone setter as 300 km of new projects were approved, while 210 km stretch operationalised. The total length of metro rails have now reached 657 km. Comprehensive restructuring of <keyword id="6373156" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-highways">national highways</keyword> programme under the 2nd phase of the Bharatmala project is also set to be operationalised. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;">YEAR </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;">BUDGET ALLOCATION </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;">2018-19 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;"> ₹ 78625.5 crore </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;">2019 (interim) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;"> ₹ 80016 crore </td></tr></tbody></table> In the Interim Budget, the government had increased the budget for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways by 5.58%. Highways sector is one of the best performing areas. The government expenditure in the area went up from ₹ 34,345 crore in 2014-15 to ₹ 78,625 crore in 2018-19. India’s road transport network is amongst the longest in the world, with over 5.5 million kms. The network aids the movement of almost 64.5% of all goods in the country and 90% of its passenger traffic. The ministry has big plans coming up in the next few years. By 2022, the ministry has plans to construct 200,000 km of national highways in the country. For financial year 2019 itself, the ministry has set target to award 15,000 km projects and construction of 10.000 km of national highways. A total of about 295 major projects for bridges and roads are also expected to be completed during the same period. The ministry’s Bharatmala project is its latest high end endeavour, which aims at improving connectivity in border and other areas. The project is set to cost ₹ 5.5 trillion for the development of about 50,000 km of road networks.

Union budget 2019: Will lay 1.25000 kms of rural roads says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

When the Modi government announced its first budget in 2014-15, the government of the largest democracy had allocated Rs 1.91 trillion for infrastructure development. Growing at a breathtaking phase through the consecutive budgets of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and touching Rs 4.94 trillions in 2017-18, the infrastructure sector received a push of Rs 5.97 trillions in the budget 2018-19. For <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword>’s government, infrastructure development of the country has been a prime focus area. While making his budget speech while presenting 2018-19 budget, <keyword id="42575" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arun-Jaitley">Arun Jaitley</keyword>, the Finance Minister remarked, “Our country needs massive investments estimated to be in excess of Rs 50 lakh crores in infrastructure to increase growth of GDP, connect and integrate the nation with a network of roads, airports, railways, ports and inland waterways and to provide good quality services to our people." In order to the augment the resources, the government levied a road and infrastructure cess of Rs 8 per liter on the petrol and diesel imported. Jaitley said, “The government and market regulators have taken necessary measures for development of monetizing vehicles like Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) and Real Estate Investment Trust (ReITs) in India. The government would initiate monetizing select CPSE (central public sector enterprises) assets using InvITs from next year." The latest economic survey reveals that such measures will be operationalized provided the country will face a $526 billion gap in the investment towards infrastructure development. Jaitley added, “Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines to nudge corporates to access the bond market. Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) will also consider mandating, beginning with large corporates, to meet about one-fourth of their financing needs from the bond market." Announcing the most innovative and integrated infrastructure planning model, the National Democratic Alliance government launched the country’s largest ever rail and road budget through budget 2018-19 that saw an allocation of Rs 1.48 trillion and Rs 1.21 trillion respectively. Way back while announcing the 2017-18 budget, Arun Jaitley said the cabinet had given a nod to the most ambitious Bharatmala (roads) scheme that will significantly strengthen the country’s roads network. To support this massive allocation requirement, the government said Rs 5.35 trillion as equity from the market. Jaitley’s talk emphasized that the nation required funds for some ambitious plans Sagarmala (ports) and Bharatmala to enhance its transport infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the largest democracy effectively. “To raise equity from the market for its mature road assets, NHAI will consider organizing its road assets into special purpose vehicles and use innovative monetizing structures like toll, operate and transfer (TOT) and Infrastructure Investment Funds (InvITs)," stressed Jaitley. Though the 2017-18 budget allocated Rs 73.31 crores for Airports Authority of India (AAI) from Rs 149.93 crores in 2017-18, AAI had to raise Rs 4,086 crores. While commenting on the line of budgets by the NDA government headed by Narendra Modi, Jaijit Bhattacharya, partner and head, economics and regulatory at consultancy firm KPMG remarked. “The budget demonstrates a very significant push on infrastructure, including rural infrastructure, as well as for immediate job creation as well as supporting long-term employability through education and skill development is very encouraging."

A look at budget allocation for infrastructure under the Modi government

<ul><li>During the <keyword id="7190005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="interim-budget-2019">Interim Budget 2019</keyword>, the Modi government presented Vision 2030. </li><li>From clean Ganga to an astronaut in space and building hubs for Digital India, the Vision 2030 agenda has big plans. </li><li>The government’s current track record in some cases and the lack of details in others are uninspiring. </li></ul>Indian government’s budget for 2019-20 was supposed to be an interim vote on account before the elections in the upcoming summer. However, the government’s promises, hopes and estimation went as far as 2030. Here’s the 10-point agenda for the next decade set by Piyush Goyal, standing in for finance minister Arun Jaitley. “We are poised to become a Five Trillion Dollar Economy in the next five years and aspire to become a Ten Trillion Dollar Economy in the next 8 years thereafter.” The message from the government is that it is not just focussed on the headline growth, but also on the quality of life. “On the social infrastructure side, every family will have a roof on its head and will live in a healthy, clean and wholesome environment,” said Finance MInister Piyush Goyal. It was 2017, when prime minister Modi promised to double farmers’ income in the following five years. However, the rural distress has been one of the biggest failures of the administration. While ‘housing for all by 2022’ is still an ongoing project, there is still a lot left to desire in <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/15-million-indian-households-have-meters-but-no-electricity">electrification</a> and <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Politics/d0gb1cTpVnVwJaUQIPIaaP/Swachh-Bharat-Abhiyan-Why-Indias-toilet-data-is-too-good-t.html">sanitation</a> of villages. “Digital India into every sector of the economy” There were two announcements towards digitisation of the economy – to turn 1 lakh villages into Digital Villages over next five years, and a plan to build centre of excellences for Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is not the first time the government has promised a push for AI. ₹3,073 crores were allocated for the programme in 2018-19. This fund was supposed to boost the development of artificial intelligence, robotics, big data analysis, and digital manufacturing, by setting up centres of excellences in the country. However, there has been little or no progress so far. The Indian government had allocated ₹10,000 crores in the last budget for Bharat Net phase II-- a pan-India broadband network--to create 500,000 rural wifi hotspots. By December 2018, the network had covered half the target range, but the utilisation was reportedly less <a href="https://thewire.in/government/pmo-bharatnet-project-shoddy-state-of-broadband-initiative">than 10%</a>. “Over ₹17,000 crore has been spent already on BharatNet. No results can be seen. There is no utilisation...Public money has been wasted and it will become a serious problem for the government," a senior official at Trai told <a href="https://www.livemint.com/politics/policy/trai-asks-telecom-dept-to-auction-bharatnet-assets-to-private-firms-1548698974471.html">Mint</a> in January. “This India will drive on Electric Vehicles with Renewables becoming a major source of energy supply. India will lead the world in the transport revolution through electric vehicles” India did assume the lead in the global fight against climate change after the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-signing-the-paris-climate-change-treaty-means-for-india/story-RsDH1IAohQNEqRxb426YbM.html">Paris pact </a>of 2016. But the push towards green vehicles at home has had, at best, a sputtering start. While there has been a growth in demand for electric two-wheelers, only 1,200 electric cars were sold in FY 2017-18, according to a report done by the <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Politics/1x96WeyG6cCVnm5zPcUraK/Govt-proposes-incentives-to-boost-EVsalesin5-years.html">Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.</a> The main concern of the automobile companies is the lack of infrastructure for growth of EVs in India as well as the absence of <a href="https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/are-indian-automakers-ditching-ev-in-want-of-clear-policy/67749150">clarity</a> regarding the EV policy. “Expanding rural industrialisation using modern digital technologies to generate massive employment” Both industrial growth and employment have been among the big failures of the Modi regime, mostly because private investment has been lacking. The most recent data in factory output growth was the lowest in 17 months. A news report based on leaked data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) said that India’s unemployment rate has hit a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/unemployment-in-india-is-at-its-highest-in-45-years-says-an-indian-daily-citing-an-undisclosed-jobs-survey/articleshow/67769020.cms">45-year high</a> by December 2018, with a majority of job losses seen in rural India, showing that the government’s policies have so far failed to spur industrialisation and jobs. “Our Government has worked vigorously for cleaning River Ganga. Fifth Dimension of our Vision for India of 2030 is Clean Rivers” The government has already approved ₹25,500 crores for ‘Namami Gange Mission’, but the impact has less than satisfactory, according to environmental activists. There was no additional in the current budget for the same programme. Spending crores of rupees for beautification of ghats has been "wastage of the public exchequer" because "without ensuring a continuous flow, clean Ganga will continue to remain a distant dream", said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/why-indias-waterman-thinks-the-governments-3-5-billion-plan-to-clean-up-ganga-is-not-working/articleshow/67672185.cms">Rajendra Singh,</a> who goes by the sobriquet "Waterman of India". “Our efforts in the Sagarmala programme will be scaled up and we will develop other inland waterways faster.” According to a reply to a right-to-information petition filed in 2018, it was <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/sagarmala-drives-in-slow-lane-only-1-5-projects-completed-since-fy16-118091700931_1.html">reported</a> that just 80 projects had been completed out of the 220 projects envisioned under the Sagar Mala project, over three years after its inception. “Placing an Indian astronaut into space by 2022” The ISRO chief K Sivan in a press conference last month had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-first-manned-mission-to-space-may-have-women-too/articleshow/67486206.cms">announced</a> that under the Gaganyaan mission,a three-member team will be sent to space which could also include a woman astronaut. It’s too soon to evaluate the progress of this plan. “High farm production and productivity will be achieved through modern agricultural practices and value addition” India, a country which has over 45% of its population employed in agriculture, is also a major exporter. According to <a href="https://www.ibef.org/exports/agriculture-and-food-industry-india.aspx">reports</a>, during April-October 2018, exports of agricultural and processed food products totalled US$ 21.61 billion. India now faces the problem of <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/agrarian-crisis-farmer-protests-rural-distress-surplus-production-crop-procurement-the-age-of-surplus-5213499/">surplus</a>, where farmers are ready to answer the demand for more produce. However, the farmer has not been in the winning end of the deal. A report of the Committee on Strategy for Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022 <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/you-may-pay-a-steep-price-but-does-the-farmer-make-any-money--62364">states </a>that “The WPI (wholesale price index) of food articles was lower than that of agricultural inputs for most years, indicating that farmers received lower market prices for agricultural commodities than the prices paid for the purchase of inputs.” “Aiming at healthy society with an environment of health assurance and the support of necessary health infrastructure” The Indian government had announced its ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme in 2018. The Finance Minister during his budget speech announced that so far ₹3000 crore had been allocated to Ayushman Bharat which has benefited over 10 lakh people. However, many states have pulled out of the scheme criticising it for legitimate and political reasons. As the minister from Chhattisgarh explained, Ayushman Bharat provided insurance for secondary and tertiary healthcare in hospitals, whereas <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/healthcare/chhattisgarh-govt-to-pull-out-of-ayushman-bharat/articleshow/67550227.cms">nearly 80%</a> of the state’s citizens required primary healthcare services. Outpatient treatment, which is hugely popular with India’s poor households according to <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/201612_health-and-morbidity.pdf">a Brookings report</a>, isn’t provided under the scheme. In addition, as public hospitals lack the requisite infrastructure, the government is relying heavily on private hospitals, which aren’t that widespread in semi-urban and rural areas and can promote expensive treatments to improve their margins “Transforming India into a Minimum Government Maximum Governance nation” ‘Minimum Government Maximum Governance’ was one of the many slogans that Modi came up with ahead of the 2014 elections. Indeed, he managed to reduce the layers in bureaucracy and made processes simpler in many cases. It helped India to rise to the <a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=184513">77th position</a> in the ease of doing business ranking assessed by the World Bank, up from 142 in 2014. Yet, the spirit of the slogan does not pervade all parts of the government. For instance, startups, which mushroomed in India in the years where there was no focussed regulation, have now hit a wall with the infamous ‘angel tax’. Early stage investors who back these startups were burdened with higher tax in a bid to control money laundering. The sweeping tax on all angel investors hurt new investments in startups. Even the steps taken to assuage the concern has only added to the layers of permission required to start a new business. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/income-tax-slabs-for-2019-20/articleshow/67788923.cms">No tax proposed on annual income up to ₹500,000</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-indian-government-just-announced-its-highest-ever-outlay-for-defence/articleshow/67789219.cms">The Indian government just announced its highest ever outlay for defence</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget-2019-income-tax-and-other-benefits-for-middle-class-in-india/articleshow/67789294.cms">Here is how the Budget 2019 benefits the Indian middle class</a>

India’s Narendra Modi has a grand vision for 2030 – but it is short on details

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Union budget 2019: Will lay 1.25000 kms of rural roads says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

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A look at budget allocation for infrastructure under the Modi government

BI India Bureau

India’s Narendra Modi has a grand vision for 2030 – but it is short on details

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