Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee began presenting the Union budget for 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha today after the Cabinet approved the document.

Here are some of the highlights.

Income tax slabs for individual taxpayers to be as follows Income

• Income upto Rs 1.6 lakh : NIL
• Rs 1.6 lakh – Rs 5 lakh : 10%
• Rs 5 lakh – Rs 8 lakh : 20%
• Income above Rs 8 lakh : 30%

Cheaper than Before:

• Mobile Phones
• Agricultural Equipments
• Set Top boxes
• Toys
• Books
• Medical Equipment
• CFL Bulbs
• Compact Disc (CD)

Costier than Before:

• Consumer products like TV and AC.
• Large Cars, SUVs and MUVs.
• Petrol and Diesel
• Cigarettes and Non-smoking Tobacco
• Gold and Silver
• Flying by Air

Others

• Aam admi is focus of all programmes and schemes
• For Senior Citizen IT exemption limit raised by Rs 15,000
• For tax payers including women, Limit raised by Rs 10,000
• 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped
• Fringe Benefit Tax abolished
• Corporate Tax remains unchanged
• Defence gets Rs 1,41,703 crore
• Total fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 amounts to Rs 1,86,000 crore
• IIFCL to evolve mechanism for increased funding of infra
• IIFCL to re-finance commercial bank loans up to 60% in critical objects through PPP to tune of Rs 1,00,000 crore
• Allocations for highways being stepped up by 23%
• Funds for housing, amenities for urban poor up Rs 3,973 crore
• Funds for JN Urban Renewal Mission up 87% to Rs 12,887 crore
• Assistance for storm-water drainage project up by Rs 300 crore
• Farm credit target up at Rs 3,25,000 cr from Rs 2,87,000 crore
• Interest rates incentive to farmers to repay loans on time
• Additional Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation scheme
• Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010
• 2% Interest Subvention (IS) scheme extended till March 2010
• IS scheme to cover 7 job-oriented sectors, including textile, handicrafts and handlooms.
• Commodity Transaction Tax abolished
• New pension system trust exempted from STT, DDT
• Minimum Alternate Tax hiked to 15% from 10%
• Tax holiday on petro sector extended to natural gas
• 100% tax deduction on political donation
• Stimulus for print media for another six months
• Fertiliser subsidy to be nutrient-based, not price
• Banks and insurance firms to remain in public sector
• Rs 100 crore one-time grant to expand banks in unbanked areas
• Govt committed to provide Rs 100 per day as wages under NREGA
• Allocation of Rs 39,100 crore to be made for NREGA
• NREGA coverage increased to 4.74 crore households in FY’09
• Work National Food Security scheme has begun
• Allocation for Bharat Nirman being raised by 45%
• Rs 2,000 crore rural housing fund under National Housing Bank
• Mission for female literacy with focus on minorities SC/ST
• 50% of all rural women to be brought into SHG programs
• Full interest subsidy for students in select institutions
• Five lakh students to benefit
• Modernization of national employment exchanges
• Action for social security to unorganized sector workers
• New pension benefits for 12 lakh jawans and JCOs from July
• One lakh dwelling units for paramilitary forces personnel
• Unique Identification Card to citizens in 12-18 months
• Provision of Rs 120 crore for UIC project
• Rs 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and new IITs
• Rs 3472 cr for Commonwealth Games from Rs 2112 cr
• Customs, excise and service tax base rates unchanged
• For Indira Awas Yojana, allocation increased 63%
• Incom Tax returns to be made simpler
• 8 missions being launched under Plan on climate change
• Allocation for market development assistance scheme up 148%
• Allocation for Rural Health Mission raised by Rs 257 cr above interim budget
• Rs 500 cr for rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils
• Rs 1,000 cr for infrastructure in cyclone-hit area in WB
• Total expenditure crosses Rs 10 lakh crore in history of India for first time.
• Share of direct taxes in revenue increased to 56% in FY’09

Rail Budget 2010-11, presented by Union Railway Minister Ms Mamta Banerjee, through the 2020 vision, laid the roadmap for long term plans of railways.

Highlight Of Railway Budget 2010-11

• No increase in passenger fares and freight tariffs.
• Free travelling for Cancer Patients in AC3
• No examination fee for women, minority and economically backward class candidates for Railway Recruitment Boards exams.
• Question papers now will be made available in local state languages besides Hindi, Urdu and English, examinations will be held on the same day in all regions.
• Modern luggage trolleys with uniformed attendants to assist senior citizens and women passengers.
• Six clean bottling plants to provide cheaper, clean drinking water to passengers.
• 12 companies of women RPF personnel, ‘Mahila Vahini’, for the security of women passengers.
• Service charges on e-tickets reduced.
• E-ticket vans to be extended to Government Medical College Hospitals, Courts, Universities, IT hubs, IITs and IIMs.
• SMS updates of reservation status and movement of wagons.
• Ticket centres to be opened at district headquarters and village panchayats.
• 117 new train projects to be flagged off by the end of March 2010.
• 52 long distance express trains and 28 passenger trains to be introduced.
• Frequency of 12 trains will be increased and 21 trains will be extended.
• Special trains to mark Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary for ladies, uniformed persons and tourists.
• Double Decker coaches to be introduced in two trains each from Delhi and Kolkata.
• 94 stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations, 10 more stations to be upgraded as World Class Stations
• Automatic fire and smoke detection system to be introduced in 20 trains.
• All the unmanned Level Crossings to be manned within five years.
• Rs 41,426 crore outlay proposed, allocation for new lines increased to Rs 2,848 crore from Rs 4,411 crore.
• More money to improve passenger amenities – Rs 1,302 crore in comparision to Rs 923 crore in 2009-10.
• Railway revenue through branding/advertising to go up from Rs 150 crore to Rs 1,000.
• Special Task Force to clear investment proposals within 100 days .
• Concession in freight charges for food-grains and domestic use kerosene.
• Kisan Vision Project for manufacturing refrigerated containers.
• Allotment of iron ore rakes would be accessible through the web. RFID technology to be introduced for tracking of wagons.
• Multi-level parking complexes through PPP route.
• 93 new multi-functional complexes to be developed.
• National High Speed Rail Authority proposed to plan high speed rail corridor.
• Houses for all Railway Employees in next 10 years.
• 522 hospitals, 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 residential schools, model degree colleges, technical and management institutes for railway employees.