All eyes on the Union Budget, Newz Quest brings you the latest highlights: 

• Saptarishi — seven priorities — of the Union Budget 2023, according to FM Nirmala Sitharaman: inclusive development, reaching the last mile, youth power, financial sector, green growth, unleashing potential, and infrastructure and investment.
• Sitharaman announced plans to build digital public infrastructure, establish an agriculture accelerator fund, make India the global hub for millets, and increase farmer storage capacity in the agriculture and cooperatives sectors.
• The government has also prioritised the health sector, with the finance minister announcing the establishment of 157 new nursing colleges, the launch of the sickle cell anaemia elimination mission, and a programme to promote pharmaceutical research.
• The Narendra Modi Sarkar has decided to revamp teacher training through district institutes and to establish a National Digital Library for children and adolescents in the education and skilling sector.
• In good news for travellers, India will build 50 new airports to improve regional connectivity. Sitharaman also announced the highest-ever railway outlay — Rs 2.40 lakh crore, a 9-fold increase over FY-14.
• The PAN will be used as a common identifier for all Digital Systems of specified government agencies for business establishments that are required to have a Permanent Account Number.
• MSME assistance will also be maintained. The government has injected Rs 9,000 crore into the corpus and reduced credit costs. The credit guarantee scheme had a rocky start, but banks have been brought on board to lend over the last two years, and the scheme has helped to alleviate stress in the sector.
• A Direct Benefit Transfer under a pan-India national apprenticeship scheme will be implemented to help 47 lakh youths in three years.
• The government has increased capital investment outlay by 33.4 percent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which is a significant increase. It has also decided to extend the interest-free loan to state governments for another 50 years and to build urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
• To offset losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Sitharaman announced the highest-ever capital outlay for Railways of Rs 2.4 lakh crore — nine times more than in FY-14.
• With the elderly in mind, the government has increased the maximum deposit limit for the savings scheme from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.
• Earlier in the day, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, and senior Finance Ministry officials met with President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget 2023-24.
• Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, is the sixth minister in independent India to present five consecutive budgets, joining a select group that includes Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, and P Chidambaram. Under Sitharaman’s leadership, India has weathered the Covid-19 pandemic with a slew of policy measures aimed at the poor, maintaining its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy and a “bright spot” in the global economy.
• The Finance Ministry’s annual Economic Survey, released on Tuesday, forecasts that the economy will grow 6-6.8 percent year on year next fiscal year, down from 7 percent this year, while warning about the impact of the global slowdown on exports.
• “India’s growth outlook appears better than in the pre-pandemic years, and the Indian economy is ready to grow at its potential in the medium term,” according to the report.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts India’s economy will grow by 6.1% in 2023-4, down from 6.8% this fiscal year. India, like other economies, is vulnerable to the global slowdown. Inflation remains a concern, as higher global fuel and commodity prices threaten to slow economic growth.
• Since May 2022, the Reserve Bank of India has raised its benchmark policy rate by 225 basis points to tame retail inflation, which has risen to more than 7% due to a surge in food and energy prices following the Russia-Ukraine war.
• According to party leaders, the BJP will launch a 12-day nationwide campaign on Wednesday to raise awareness of the “pro-people” measures announced in the Union Budget. The campaign, which will begin the day the budget is presented in Parliament and end on February 12, will be coordinated by senior BJP leader Sushil Modi. @Aditya Newz Quest