New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Poland today, marking the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country in 45 years. The visit coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Poland.

The last Indian Prime Minister to visit Poland was Morarji Desai in 1979. 

“Leaving for Warsaw. This visit to Poland comes at a special time- when we are marking 70 years of diplomatic ties between our nations. India cherishes the deep-rooted friendship with Poland. This is further cemented by a commitment to democracy and pluralism,” PM Modi said in a statement. 

Leaving for Warsaw. This visit to Poland comes at a special time- when we are marking 70 years of diplomatic ties between our nations. India cherishes the deep rooted friendship with Poland. This is further cemented by a commitment to democracy and pluralism.

I will hold talks…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 21, 2024

“I will hold talks with President @AndrzejDuda and PM @donaldtusk. I will also be addressing the Indian community at a programme in Warsaw this evening,” he added. 

The Prime Minister’s two-day visit from August 21-22 will focus on strengthening bilateral relations, with discussions likely to cover a wide range of topics, including strategic partnerships, defence cooperation, and cultural exchanges.

European Parliament member Dariusz Jonski has termed the visit as “very important.” 

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) highlighted the historical ties between the two nations, recalling Poland’s assistance to India during Operation Ganga in 2022, which facilitated the evacuation of over 4,000 Indian students from Ukraine. This gesture, along with the historical refuge provided to over 6,000 Polish women and children in India during World War II, are being seen as the cornerstone of good India-Poland ties. 

PM Modi will visit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on August 23 to hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

New Delhi:

As the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, is set to present her seventh Union Budget, the Monsoon Session of Parliament will commence on July 22. With the presentation of this year’s budget, Ms Sitharaman will establish herself as the first Finance Minister to present seven consecutive budgets, breaking the record of Morarji Desai’s six budget presentations.

Mr Desai, who was the country’s Finance Minister from 1959 to 1964, presented a record six budgets for the country, of which five were full budgets and one was an interim budget.

Like the previous few full Union Budgets, Budget 2024 will also be delivered in paperless form. An Interim Union Budget 2024 was presented on February 1, as the country was due for general elections.

As part of the budget preparation, the Finance Ministry has completed several rounds of deliberations with different stakeholders of the economy.

These meetings started on June 20, during which Ms Sitharaman met representatives from trade unions, the education and health sectors, employment and skilling, MSMEs, trade and services, industry, economists, the financial sector and capital markets, as well as representatives from the infrastructure, energy, and urban sectors.

During the meetings, economists discussed several critical issues, such as boosting capital expenditure and reducing the fiscal deficit.

The group of economists suggested to the ministry that the focus should be on reducing the fiscal deficit in the upcoming budget, along with the need to generate employment growth.

The industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), suggested that the government increase capital expenditure in the upcoming budget. The economists also emphasised the need to enhance capital expenditure.

Farmer associations urged the Finance Minister to enhance the budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector. Representatives from the skilling and employment sectors suggested ways to skill the youth for better utilization of the workforce.

This year’s Monsoon Session will have 19 sittings until August 12. The Modi government is expected to present six bills, among which the Aircraft Act and Parliament’s nod for the budget of Jammu and Kashmir are prominent.

The government will also present the Finance Bill after the announcement of the budget on July 23. Among the other bills, the disaster management law, the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024, the Boilers Bill, the Coffee (Promotion and Development) Bill, and the Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill will be tabled in this year’s Monsoon Session.

The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 will replace the Aircraft Act of 1934 and streamline regulations in the civil aviation sector, aiding industry players in the sector.

The interim budget, tabled on February 1, addressed the financial needs of the intervening period until a government was formed after the Lok Sabha polls, after which a full budget was supposed to be presented by the new government in July.

The Union Budget documents will be available on the “Union Budget Mobile App” for hassle-free access to budget documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the public.

The app is bilingual (English and Hindi) and is available on both Android and iOS platforms. The app can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)