Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi first used the term ''Amrit Kaal'' in 2021 during the 75th Independence Day festivities, when he revealed a unique roadmap for the country for the next 25 years. The objective of Amrit Kaal is to enhance the lives of the nationals of India, reduce the divide in development between villages and cities, lessen the government's interference in people's lives and embrace the latest technology.
By accomplishing specific goals during the Amrit Kaal, the government strives to achieve the vision India@100. They are:
- Complementing the macroeconomic level development focus with a microeconomic level all-inclusive welfare principle.
- Boosting the digital economy and fintech technology-enabled evolution, energy transition, and climate action.
- A virtuous cycle of private investment with public capital investment, supporting crowd in private investment.
The Budget 2022-23 seeks to lay the footing and give a blueprint to drive the economy over Amrit Kaal of the next 25 years – from India at 75 to India at 100. It creates the vision drawn in the Budget 2021-22. Its elemental principles, which comprised transparency of financial statement and fiscal standing, reflect the government's objective, resilience, and challenges.
The Budget 2022-23 continues to provide momentum for development. It lays a similar blueprint for the Amrit Kaal, futuristic and inclusive. This will directly help the youth, women, farmers, the Scheduled Castes, and the Schedules Tribes. Moreover, substantial public investment for modern infrastructure equips India at 100. This will be steered by PM GatiShakti and benefit from the multimodal approach's synergy. Moving onward on this parallel track, the government is laying the ensuing four priorities:
- PM GatiShakti
- Inclusive Development
- Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition and Climate Action
- Financing of Investments
PM GatiShakti
PM GatiShakti is a transformative strategy for economic growth and sustainable development. The approach is guided by seven engines: roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways, and logistics infrastructure. All seven engines will draw forward the economy in unison. These engines are backed by the complementary roles of energy transmission, IT communication, bulk water and sewerage, and social infrastructure. The approach is powered by clean energy and Sabka Prayas – the measures of the central government, the state governments, and the private sector – ushering tremendous job and entrepreneurial prospects for all, particularly the youth.
Inclusive Development
Recognising the significance of Nari Shakti as the herald of an optimistic future and for women-led development during the Amrit Kaal, the government has thoroughly reworked the Ministry of Women & Child Development schemes. Consequently, three schemes, namely, Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, were embarked recently to deliver integrated benefits to women and children. Saksham Anganwadis are a new age of anaganwadis with adequate infrastructure and audio-visual aids, powered by clean energy and providing an improved setting for early child development. Two lakh anganwadis will be upgraded under the scheme.
Productivity Enhancement and Investment
Recently, over 25,000 compliances were reduced, and 1486 Union Laws were repealed. This results from the government's strong affirmation of ''minimum government & maximum governance,'' trust in the public and Ease of Doing Business (EoDB). The next phase of EoDB 2.0 and Ease of Living will be undertaken for the Amrit Kaal. To enhance the productive efficiency of capital and human resources, the government will follow the vision of ''trust-based governance.'' This new phase will be helmed by the active involvement of the states, digitisation of manual procedures and interventions, integration of the central and state-level systems through IT bridges, single-point access for all citizen-centric services and standardisation and removal of overlapping compliances. Crowdsourcing of recommendations and ground-level inspection of the impact with the energetic involvement of the citizens and businesses will be stimulated.
Like, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly expressed, "Starting from here, the journey of the next 25 years is the Amrit Kaal of a new India. The fulfilment of our resolutions in this Amrit Kaal will take us till 100 years of independence."
