New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has started reading out her Union Budget 2021 speech in Parliament on Monday.
The finance minister started the Budget presentation amid sloganeering from the Opposition benches.
Sitharaman announced an Aatmanirbhar Bharat package to sustain recovery. In total, three Atmanirbhar packages and RBI measures amounted to over Rs 27 lakh crore or 15% of GDP, she said.
Admitting to the unprecedented problems faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the minister said, “The preparation of the Budget was undertaken in circumstances like never before. “But what we have endured with Covid-19 to 2020 is sui generis.”
“Today India has 2 vaccines available and has begun safeguarding not only her own citizens against #COVID19 but also those of 100 or more countries. It has added comfort to know that 2 more vaccines are also expected soon,” she added.
The minister also announced a new healthcare system scheme with an outlay of Rs 64,000 crore.