Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram unveiled the General Budget for the fiscal 2008-08 in the Parliament, against a backdrop of slowing expansion and creeping inflation.

The budget pledges a 20 per cent rise in education spending and a 15 per cent increase in health spending to spread the benefits of an economic boom beyond the cities to rural areas. India has a population of 1.1 billion and 60 per cent or more live and work in rural areas.

For the live webcast of the Hon'ble Finance Minister's Union Budget 2008-09 Speech in the Parliament on Feb 29, 2008, click here

Highlights of the Budget:

• India has registered a growth of over 8 per cent for 12 successive quarters till Dec 2007
• Focus next year to be management of supply side of food, market, capital inflows
• Keeping inflation under check to be the focus
• Agriculture disappointing at average annual growth of 2.6 per cent
• Soyabean output to be 9.45 million tonnes
• Maize production to be 16.78 million tonnes
• Rice production to be 94.08 million tonnes
• Total agri production to be 219.32 million tonnes at all time high
• Agri credit doubled in first two years
• Focus on achievement of self-sufficiency in food grain
• Agriculture credit to touch US$ 60.17 billion in 2008
• Gross Budgetary support to be US$ 61.01 billion about US$ 9.59 billion more than 2007-08
• Education & health to get 20 per cent more from US$ 7.18 billion to US$ 86.12 billion
• Bharat Nirman allocation to go up to US$ 7.83 billion from US$ 6.16 billion
• About 6,000 high quality schools to be built by 2009
• 3 IITs to be set up in Bihar, AP, Rajasthan
• 16 new Central universities to be built
• Bhopal and Tripura to get one IIScR each and 2 colleges of art
• 410 additional Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalaya to be set up in backward blocks.
• Navodaya Vidyalayas to be opened in 20 districts with special focus on regions having SC/ST concentration. Allocation of US$ 32.54 million for this purpose.
• Healthcare allocation to be raised by 15 per cent
• US$ 21.28 million sanctioned for scholarships to students pursuing science education.
• NRHM to get US$ 312.93 million budgetary allocation
• Allocation for ICDS increased to US$ 1.58 billion
• A national programme for the elderly to be started at a cost of US$ 100.14 million