Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting the budget in Parliament
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus on research and innovation had expanded former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri's slogan of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech this morning.
"Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave the slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. Then, Atal Bihari Vajpayee added 'Jai Vigyan' - meaning 'Hail Science' to it. Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has added 'Jai Anusandhan' to it," she said in Parliament.
To step up research projects, she said a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be set up. This corpus will be used to provide funding to long-term projects at low or nil interest rates, she said. This, the minister said, will encourage the private sector to scale up research activities.
Ms Sitharaman is presenting an interim budget this time as the Lok Sabha polls are just a few months away. The new government will present the full budget.