Hello Steemians!!
Here are my top 10 union budget 2018 highlights (from a common man's perspective):-
1. Around 1.48 lakh crore to be allocated to Indian Railways.
My comment: Why does the government fail to understand that Indian Railway's (& Air India's) root problem is operation & not finance. A messy operation in an organization always leads to high cost, loss & sluggish growth. Take care of the operation side & finance will improve by itself. As a tax payer, I would like see government institutions being run without government funding (strong profitable & cash surplus growth).
2. No change in tax slab rates for individuals (personal).
My comment: To further encourage income tax payment & filing (after the bold step of demonetization), the government may have considered lowering of rates of income tax. Lower rates may result in increase in volume of tax payers (A model successfully implemented by many countries)
3. Around 5 lakh Wi-Fi spots to be installed in rural areas.
My comment: Great way or step to connect the rural data consumers to the rest of the world.
4. Under Ujjwala Yojana, 8 crore rural women to get free gas connection.
My comment: This yojana is already running & was one of the core reasons why BJP won convincingly in recent UP elections
5. Government to recapitalize ailing banks with Rs. 5 lakh crores.
My comment: Same as in the first point. :(
6. Electronic payment option for toll payments
My comment: Not sure if this step will save time but may help in solving the 'change' problem
7. Training of 50 lakh youth by year 2020
My comment: Welcome step but expected the numbers to be much more. If we want to compete with china in manufacturing sector, then adequate availability of skilled manpower is a must.
8. For Bengaluru Metro, 17,000 crores have been allocated
My comment: This was urgently needed because the road traffic condition in the city is awful (have lived there so I know the ground situation)
9. Two crores toilets to be built under Swachh Bharat Mission
My comment: Clean India initiative is worthy of appreciation. Hope, people support this initiative by maintaining the assets (keeping them in neat & clean condition).
10. Airport capacity to be increased to handle 1 billion trips per year
My comment: Need of the hour. With middle class able to afford air travels, the volume of passengers spiked like anything in the previous year.