Highlights of Chidambaram's interim budget

New Delhi: Here are the highlights of Finance Minister P Chidambaram's interim budget presented in Parliament today : ---Rs. 65,000 crores provided for fuel subsidy. Rs. 115,000 crore has been allocated for food subsidy in order to implement National Food Security Act .-- Rs. 555,322 crores provided for plan expenditure in 2014-15. An allocation of over Rs. 82,200 crore has been made for Ministry of Rural Development.--Allocations of Rs. 67,398 crore for the Ministry of HRD, Rs. 33,725 crore for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Rs. 21,000 crore for Ministry of Women and Child Development and Rs. 15,260 crore for Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. --An allocation of Rs. 48,638 crore has been made for the scheduled caste sub- plan--Allocation of Rs. 30,726 crore made for Tribal Sub-Plan. --Allocation of Rs. 97,533 crore has been made towards gender budget --Allocation of Rs. 81,024 crore made towards child budget. --Budgetary support to railways has been increased from Rs. 26,000 crore, to Rs 29,000 crore. Railways need to mobilise resources through market borrowing and Private Public Partnership . --Defence Allocation enhanced by ten per cent. Allocation of Rs. 224,000 crore has been made as against Rs. 203,672 crore in the last Budget for defence. --A modernization plan of over Rs. 11,000 crore to strengthen the capacity of Central Armed Police Forces. It will be utilized for providing state of the art equipment and technology for the Central Armed Police Forces. --In the plan budget of 2014-15, an additional Central Assistance is proposed to be given to States/ UTs.-- Plans for implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Plan Schemes (CSSs). It is now proposed to restrict them to 66 schemes from the 126 such schemes currently in vogue under 17 flagship programmes. -- A higher allocation of Rs. 3,38,562 crore towards State Plans has been made under central assistance, as against Rs. 1,36,254 crore last year. -- A central assistance of Rs. 34,000 crores proposed towards State/UTs Plans for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme-- Rs. 27,635 crore is to be given for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan-- Rs. 13,152 crore for National Programme for Mid-Day meals in schools --Rs. 4,965 crore for Rashtriya Madhyanik Shiksha Abiyan.--Rs 18691 crore for Intergrated Child Development Services (ICDS)under State/UTs Plans.-- Rs. 16,000 crore as central assistance for rural housing, --Rs. 13,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna,-- Rs. 11,000 crore for drinking water supply--Rs. 4,260 crore for rural sanitation--Rs 2,200 crore for National Food Security Mission -- For Urban Development, Rs. 7060 crore will be given as central assistance under Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission( JNNURM). --Interim Budget 2014-15 shows an estimated plan expenditure of Rs. 5,55,322 crore and non-plan expenditure of Rs. 12,07,892 crore.--Current financial year will end on a satisfactory note with the fiscal deficit at 4.6% and the revenue deficit at 3.3%.--A non–statutory Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) will be set up that can begin work in 2014-15. --Direct Taxes Code (DTC) will be put on the website of the Ministry of Finance for a public discussion He said that the Code can serve us for at least the next 20 years. --Chidambaram appealed to all political parties to resolve to pass the GST Laws and the Direct Taxes Code in 2014-15. -- A ‘Research Funding Organisation' will be set up to fund Research Projects selected through a competitive process. Contributions to that organisation will be eligible for tax benefits. --Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act- FCRA shall be amended to strengthen regulatory framework of the commodity derivatives market. -- AMoratorium period for all education loans taken-up to 31.3.2009 and outstanding on 31.12.2013 has been announced. Government will take over the liability for outstanding interest as on 31.12.2013, but the borrower would have to pay interest for the period after 1.1.2014. Nearly 9 lakh students borrowers will benefit to the tune of approximately Rs2,600 crore. -- Rs 11,200 crore provided for capital infusion in Public Sector Banks(PSB's). .