01 February,2018 05:23 PM IST | New Delhi | A Correspondent
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before presenting the Budget in Delhi today. Pic/ AFP
In a first, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented a bilingual Budget today, as he spoke in both Hindi and English. As this is the last full-fledged Budget of the PM Modi-led government and the first one after GST rollout, it is being said that Jaitley departed from the 'language' tradition in order to connect with India's rural masses. Significantly, this is also Jaitley's fifth straight budget speech.
Announcing a host of new schemes, Jaitley said that India is expected to register a growth rate of 7.2-7.5 per cent in the second half of the current fiscal and is on way to becoming the fifth largest economy of the world.
He announced a health protection scheme which is expected to benefit 10 crore poor and vulnerable families. "This will be the world's biggest government funded health scheme" Jaitley said. In other announcements, he said the government to contribute 12 per cent of EPF contribution for new employees in all sectors. "Around 70 lakh formal jobs have been created this year," he said.
