Union Budget 2017 Highlights

HIGHLIGHTS OF GENERAL BUDGET 2017-18 PRESENTED BY FINANCE MINISTER ARUN JAITELY.

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• Lower Tax for income below five lakh rupees and medium & small enterprises; 10 percent surcharge on income over 50 lakh to one crore. 
• No change in the service tax and some modifications in the Customs duty and Excise duty.
• No change in the rail fare or freight rates, no new trains; Bio-toilets in all trains in two years; Greater private participation in Metro Rail. 
• Scheme to cleanse political funding; Maximum cash donation limited to 2,000 rupees.  
• Aadhar Enabled Payment System, Aadhar Pay to be launched.
• Cash transactions limit fixed at three lakh rupees to curtail black-money; Major steps to promote digital economy. 
• Incentives to promote affordable housing and real estate; One crore houses for houseless in rural areas by 2019; Adequate credit to farmers. 
• Higher allocation of nearly 4 lakh crore rupees for railways, metro rail, road development and other infrastructure projects.  
• Measures to stimulate growth and longer tax exemption period for start-ups. 
• New proposals to promote youth welfare and skill.
• Lower tax liability for banks on non-performing assets. 
• Higher allocation to MGNREGA and other welfare Programmes.
• Smokers have to pay more; Pan masala to cost dear.  
• cashless transaction devices and renewable energy equipment to cost less; Mobile phones to cost more.
• And, Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.2 percent of GDP are the highlights of the Union Budget including Railways for 2017-18.    

Rail Budget Highlights

Railway Budget 2014 Main points:

• No increase in passenger fares and freight charges.
• Reservation system will be revamped and ticket booking through mobile phones and post offices popularized. 
• E-ticketing system will be improved to support 7200 tickets per minute as against 2000 tickets at present.
• Introduction of five Jansadharan, five premium, six AC, twenty seven express, eight passenger trains, two MEMU and five DEMU services. 
• Bullet trains to start off from an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector.
• Allocation of 100 crore rupees for Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail connecting major metros.
• Increase in speed of trains to 160 to 200 kilometers per hour in select nine sectors. 
  
• Railways to seek Cabinet approval for FDI to meet the funding requirement of infrastructure.
• Online booking facility of railway retiring rooms will be extended to all stations. 
• Coin-operated automatic ticket vending machines will be experimented. Efforts will be made to provide facility for buying platform and unreserved tickets over the Internet. 
• Food courts at major stations for providing regional cuisine while onboard through e mails, SMS and smart phones. 
• Ten major stations of metro cities and important junctions to be developed to international standards with modern facilities and passenger amenities on the lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. 
  
• Feedback service through Interactive Voice Response System on the quality of food to be launched.
• Recruitment of four thousand RPF women constables to strengthen security in trains and at stations.
• Lady coaches to be escorted by RPF women constables; additional care to be taken of ladies travelling alone. 
• Battery-operated carts service to be extended to facilitate differently-abled and senior citizens to reach any platform comfortably at all major stations.
• RO drinking water units to be introduced at stations and in trains on an experimental basis.
• Bio-toilets in trains to be increased to mitigate direct discharge of human waste on tracks and platforms. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, the Railways budget strengthens institutional mechanism and focuses on transparency and integrity.<>