Budget 2024: India today has 80 chess grandmasters compared to 20 in 2010, says Nirmala Sitharaman
Nirmala Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which is technically a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, said people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and options.
In her speech, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “India today has 80 chess grandmasters compared to 20 in 2010: FM in her Budget speech.” She also referred toIndian chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in her speech and also the Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa match in which he lost the Chess World Cup final to Magnus Carlsen in a tiebreaker match.
The Finance Minister also added,”The country received its highest ever medal tally in Asian Games and Asian Para Games in 2023. Chess prodigy and our No. 1 ranked player Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against world champion Magnus Carlsen in 2023, today, India has over 80 chess grandmasters compared to little over 20 in 2010.
Meanwhile, in her budget speech she said that the government is working to make India a developed country by 2047, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.
Presenting the interim Budget 2024-25, Sitharaman also said minimum support prices for ‘Annadata’ (farmers) have been increased periodically and appropriately.
She asserted that for the government, social justice is an effective and necessary model.
The government is focussing on addressing systemic inequalities, she said, adding that the emphasis is on outcomes so that socio-economic transformation is achieved.
“We focus on outcomes and not outlays,” Sitharaman said.
Poor, women, youth and farmers are four castes for the government, she added.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday expressed hope that the BJP-led government will be blessed again by the people with a resounding mandate in the forthcoming general elections.
The elections to the Lok Sabha will be held in the next few months.
“Based on stupendous work, we expect our government will be blessed again by the people with a resounding mandate,” she said.
She also said India overcame challenges of Covid-19, created foundations for self-reliant India.
India was facing enormous challenges when the Modi government took office in 2014, and it overcame those in right earnest, Sitharaman said.
*With Agency Inputs
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Published: 01 Feb 2024, 11:31 AM IST
