HIGHLIGHTS: BUDGET WILL DRIVE ECONOMIC REVIVAL POST COVID-19

HIGHLIGHTS: BUDGET WILL DRIVE ECONOMIC REVIVAL POST COVID-19   Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her third Union Budget on Monday amidst coronavirus pandemic. The Budget is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on rural development, job creation, generous allocations for development schemes, easing rules to attract foreign investments, and putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer. The Budget, experts, and economists say, will be the starting point to bringing back the situation to normality after the economic destruction caused by the  COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to drive the economic revival through higher spending on healthcare, defense, and infrastructure amid rising tensions with neighbors. The government has to carry out a crucial function in pulling the economy out of the trough. While the pandemic is showing signs of being less dangerous, a steady advancement in the vaccination program is fuelling hope for a better futur...