Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the prime focus of the Union Budget 2007-08 was on education and healthcare, as he reaffirmed his government's commitment on increasing the spending on the social infrastructure.
Updated at 2 pm
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the prime focus of the Union Budget 2007-08 was on education and healthcare, as he reaffirmed his government's commitment on increasing the spending on the social infrastructure.
He said the budget put a lot of emphasis on improving access to social services and the social safety net.
"Education and healthcare are the primary imperatives as far as this budget is concerned," Singh said.
He said there was a need to improve the skill level and special emphasis was being laid on secondary education.
The prime minister made it clear that the government will not hesitate to import essential items in case there was domestic supply constraints
He said during the current year the government imported 55 lakh tonnes of wheat besides importing vegetable oil.
Reaffirming the government's commitment on enhancing spending on social infrastructure, the prime minister said major focus had been given on education and healthcare.
He said the budget sought to lay emphasis on improving access to social services and social safety net.
"Education and healthcare are the primary imperatives as far as this budget is concerned," Singh said.
He said there was a need to improve the skill level and special emphasis was being laid on secondary education.
The prime minister said emphasis is on "supply side responses" and the National Programme of Pulses, Ground Water Resources and the strengthening of Rain-Fed authority should give a new momentum in this direction.
"We can import commodities which are in short supply," he said.
The prime minister said the toning up of rain-fed authority was aimed at utilisation of the water particularly for dry land agriculture.
Singh said the budget aimed at fiscal consolidation through reduction of excise and custom duties in a number of commodities. "This will certainly bring up the anti- inflationary bias of the budget," he said.
The prime minister said the expectation of the masses on the direct tax had been taken care of and the threshold exemption limit had been raised by Rs 10,000.
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