Budget 2021 Highlights: Health and Wellbeing | 03 Feb 2021

Recently, the Minister of Finance presented the Union Budget 2021-22. This was the first ever digital Union Budget.

It is based on six pillars - health and well-being, physical and financial capital and infrastructure, inclusive development for aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation and R&D, and 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance'.
This section deals with the proposals for the Health and Wellbeing Sector.

Budget and Constitutional Provisions

According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the Union Budget of a year is referred to as the Annual Financial Statement (AFS).
It is a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government in a Financial Year (which begins on 1^st April of the current year and ends on 31^st March of the following year).
Overall, the Budget contains:
- Estimates of revenue and capital receipts,
- Ways and means to raise the revenue,
- Estimates of expenditure,
- Details of the actual receipts and expenditure of the closing financial year and the reasons for any deficit or surplus in that year, and
- The economic and financial policy of the coming year, i.e., taxation proposals, prospects of revenue, spending programme and introduction of new schemes/projects.
In Parliament, the Budget goes through six stages:
- Presentation of Budget.
- General discussion.
- Scrutiny by Departmental Committees.
- Voting on Demands for Grants.
- Passing an Appropriation Bill.
- Passing of Finance Bill.
The Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance is the nodal body responsible for preparing the Budget.
The first Budget of Independent India was presented in 1947.

Budget Outlay: Outlay for Health and Wellbeing in 2021-22 as against 2020-21 is an increase of 137%.
Major Steps: Steps being taken for improving health and wellbeing:
- Vaccines:
  - Rs. 35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccine in Budget Expenditure (BE) 2021-22.
  - The Made-in-India Pneumococcal Vaccine to be rolled out across the country.
- Health Systems:
  - PM AatmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana – a new centrally sponsored scheme to be launched, in addition to National Health Mission (NHM).
- Nutrition:
  - Mission Poshan 2.0 to be launched to improve nutritional outcomes across 112 aspirational districts.
- Universal Coverage of Water Supply:
  - Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) - to be launched - to bring safe water to 2.86 crore households through tap connection.
- Swachch Bharat, Swasth Bharat:
  - Strengthening of Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0.
- Clean Air:
  - Rs. 2,217 crore to tackle air pollution, for 42 urban centers with a million plus population.
- Scrapping Policy:
  - Voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles.