New Delhi

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam began her budget speech with paying her tributes to all those who faced financial and health difficultiesues in the ongoing pandemic and said depite this India's growth this year was estimated to be at 9.27%, one of the highest in the big economies of the world.

Following are the key points of the buidget speech:

• There was a sharp increase in public investment & capital expenditure in Budget 2021-22...This Budget (2022-23) will benefit, youth, women, farmers, SC, ST... ; shall be guided by PM Gati Shakti master plan
• The budget will lay foundation of development in Amrit Kal (period of elixir), the five year period from 2022-2027 - leading to 100 years of India's independence - under the Pm Gan Shakti master plan.
• 400 new generation Vande Bharat trains with better efficiency to be brought in during the next 3 years
• 100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals to be developed during next 3 years and implementation of innovative ways for building metro systems.
• Procurement of wheat in Rabi season 2021-22 and the estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif season 2021-22 will give cover 1208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers and Rs 2.37 lakh crores will be the direct payment of MSP value to their accounts.

• One class, one TV channel' program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12

  Each Railway stations will become known for at least one local product under the “one station one product” scheme to local supply chain

  Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country with a focus on farmers' land in 5 km wide corridors along the river Ganga, in the first stage

  States will be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet needs of natural, zero-budget & organic farming, modern-day agriculture

  68% of the capital procurement budget for Defence to be earmarked for domestic industry to promote Aatmanirbharta and reduce dependence on imports of defence equipment. This is up from the 58% last fiscal.

• Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) will be extended up to March 2023, the guaranteed cover will be expanded by Rs 50,000 crores to total cover of Rs 5 lakh crores

  Issuance of E-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for citizen

  The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. To better the access to quality mental health counseling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health program will be launched:To better the access to quality mental health counseling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health program will be launched:

  This will include a network of 23 tele mental health centres of excellence with Nimhans being the nodal centre and IIIT Bangalore providing technology support

  India to set up first digital University

  Issuance of E-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for citizens:

  2,000 km of rail network to be brought under the indigenous world-class technology KAWACH,

  To promote a shift to the use of public transport in urban areas...special mobility zones with zero fossil fuel policy to be introduced...Considering space constraints in urban areas, a 'Battery Swapping Policy' will be brought in

  Use of Kisan Drones to be promoted for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients