Budget Session 2017: Pranab Mukherjee addresses Parliament, top 23 facts

President Pranab MukherjeePresident Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday addressed the joint sitting of both houses of parliament The President said that core of the governments policies was welfare of the poor Dalits farmers labourers and the youthMy government salutes the strength of janashakti peoples power and pledges to constructively utilise it in Rashtra Nirman nation building Mukherjee addedUpdatesgtgt 11000 of 18000 villages which were in darkness since independence electrified in record timegtgt 37 per cent of 15 crore beneficiaries of Ujjwala scheme to provide free LPG cylinder to the poor belong to the SCST categorygtgt Over 20 lakh youth have benefitted from the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojanagtgt The government is committed to social and economic equality for the deprived and disempowered sections as enshrined in the Constitutiongtgt Through the StandUp India initiative the govt plans to empower over 2andahalf lakh SCs STs and women entrepreneurs says Presidentgtgt To take the banking system to the doorstep of the poor and the unbanked the Indian Postal Payment Bank has been startedgtgt Under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana over Rs 16000 crore have been made available to SHGs in the current Financial Yeargtgt Swachh Bharat Abhiyan aims to ensure health and sanitation particularly for the poorgtgt The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will make clean energy accessible to the poorgtgt Mission Indradhanush commits to vaccinate every child everywhere against preventable diseasesgtgt Soaring prices of pulses was matter of great concern around this time last year my Government took proactive steps its now under controlgtgt A favourable monsoon supplemented by farmeroriented schemes has increased the acreage and yield of most Kharif cropsgtgt The sown area in the current Rabi season has shown six percent increase in comparison to last yeargtgt Three crore Kisan Credit Cards will be converted into RUPAY debit cards soongtgt My government is making Nari Shakti an integral part of our development journey The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme is yielding encouraging resultsgtgt To combat black money corruption counterfeit currency terror financing govt decided to demonetise old currency notesgtgt By year end all the meter gauge tracks in the North East will be converted into broad gauge linesgtgt Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan will provide comprehensive antenatal care to all pregnant womengtgt With motto of Har Haath ko Hunar government has taken several steps for skilling youth and improving their employabilitygtgtNational Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme has been launched with a budget outlay of Rs 10000 croregtgtTo combat black money corruption counterfeit currency and terror financing Government took decision on November 8 2016 of demonetisationgtgt Government is committed to combat terrorism and ensure that perpetrators of these acts are brought to justiceNarendra ModiWhat Prime Minister Narendra Modi saidPrime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the budget session hoped that the current session will be fruitful and all political parties will work together for peoples benefitWe had discussions with every political party individually and collectively There should be productive and detailed discussion of the budget during the session Modi said while addressing the media in New DelhiI urge all parties to help in smooth functioning of the session I hope for fruitful discussions We aim at positive and meaningful debates for public interestI am hopeful all political parties will work together to move forward he saidModi also said This is the first time the budget is being presented on February 1Everyone would remember that earlier budget used to take place at 5 pm This practice was changed during former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees time Modi saidToday Tuesday a new tradition will begin The budget will incorporate the rail budget as well he addedFinance Minister Arun Jaitley