1st LD Writethru: Indian gov't presents 2016-17 FY budget with emphasis on rural development

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Monday presented the government budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year at Parliament, amid a slowdown of growth and popular urges to the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet promises of economic reform.

Jaitley said special support will be given to rural population with increased government loans and funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), a labor law and social security measure for guaranteeing "right to work" by peasants, who make up 70 percent of the national population.

He also said more funds will be allocated for irrigation of lands and education to reduce illiteracy of the rural people, who are hit worst by the economic slowdown and natural adverse factors like climate change.

Jaitley said that though the current and the next fiscal year will be challenging for the government, the country's economy has held strong despite a global slowdown.

"The gross domestic product growth has accelerated to 7.6 percent. The country's forex reserves are at the highest ever levels -- 350 billion U.S. dollars," he said.

The minister outlined nine pillars of the budget -- agriculture and farmers' welfare, rural sector, social sector, including healthcare, education, skills and job creation, infrastructure, financial sector reforms, ease of doing business, fiscal discipline and tax reforms.

He also said that the government will electrify all villages of the country by 2018, saying already 5,542 villages have been electrified, more than the last three years combined. Endit