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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Food for poor, growth for all by Suman K Shrivastava

Food for poor, growth for all by Suman K Shrivastava

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published Published on Mar 6, 2010   modified Modified on Mar 6, 2010


Ranchi: It was a budget aimed at sweetening the bitter price rise pill.

From cutting down VAT on diesel, sweets and ice- cream to making foodgrains available at Re 1 per kg for the poor, deputy chief minister Raghubar Das today presented an annual budget which focused on rural development, food security and social welfare.

Chanting the “inclusive growth” mantra, Das, the BJP face in the Shibu Soren government, showed his saffron leanings as he quoted Deen Dayal Upadhaya and announced a rural electrification programme for the poor named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Das, who holds the finance portfolio, also spelt out measures to control price rise, exempting essential commodities like potatoes, onions, rice and wheat from taxes.

Das brought smiles on the faces of children and adults alike by reducing VAT on ice cream and sweets to 4 per cent from the existing 12.5 per cent.

The minister partially rolled back VAT on diesel to 18 per cent from 20, leaving petroleum dealers unhappy.

They threatened to continue their agitation till the government brought it down to 14.5 per cent.

Pegged at Rs 22,297.59 crore against last year’s Rs 22,992.36 crore, the budget included a slew of projects for the state.

The budget included a plan outlay (funds for development schemes) of Rs 10,304.41 crore. The remaining Rs 11,993.18 crore was meant for non-plan heads. Rs 5,156.24 crore will go in paying salaries of government servants, while Rs 1,401.13 crore will be used for paying pension to retired government servants.

The state, however, has managed to keep the fiscal deficit at 2.4 per cent of gross state domestic product (GSDP) against the target of 3 per cent while reflecting a revenue surplus of Rs 3,550.85 crore.

“This is a growth-oriented budget. We will set up a cell to monitor revenue collection and development work quarterly. Give us six months and we assure you results,” Das said after presenting the budget.

JVM legislature party leader Pradeep Yadav, however, said the budget allocations and fiscal status were not approved by the Planning Commission and hence could not be relied upon.

In a bid to attract investments in his budget, Das said the state government would set up a single window system to clear proposals.

He focused on the agriculture sector, allocating Rs 260 crore, 62.5 per cent more than that in 2009-10.

The finance minister, fulfilling the election promise of making foodgrains available to the poor at Re 1 per kg, allocated Rs 500 crore to implement the food security schemes, which was 66.34 per cent more than last year.

Rural development too cornered Rs 1000 crore, that is 11.63 per cent of the total state plan, while Rs 995 crore was given for welfare schemes.

Das said steps were being taken for effective IT intervention in collection of tax and non-tax revenues.

The minister promised to take up the issue of decline in royalty on coal and iron ore with the government of India.

Das said achieving a 10 per cent growth in the GSDP, per capita income of Rs 30,000 and a 5 per cent growth in agriculture along with controlling price rise were the major challenges in front of the government.

Promising 80,000 new jobs, the finance minister announced a slew of projects, including construction of flyovers in main cities, new medical colleges in Bokaro and Ghatshila, AIIMS-like hospitals in Ranchi and Dumka, women’s polytechnics in Kasturba schools, 300 new high schools and new power plants in Patratu and Tenughat.

He also proposed a Tilka Manjhi Krishi pump yojana to electrify agriculture pumps, credit cards for fishermen along the lines of kisan credit cards and a coupon system for foodgrains and kerosene under the public distribution system.

Das said a software technology park would be set up in Jamshedpur and 3.5 acres of land had been acquired for the purpose.

The minister also promised to hold panchayat elections and allocated Rs 70 crore for it.

Expressing concern over rising Naxalite violence, he proposed setting up of a tribal battalion to ensure participation of local youths in the fight against Maoists.

Expanding on the citizen participation theme, Das proposed widening the scope of Nagrik Suraksha Sangathan (NSS) to the districts of Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Bokaro and Godda and setting up of a Civil Defence Training Institute to train the general public in dealing with emergencies.

The minister also asked the Centre to recalculate the number of BPL families.

He allocated Rs 130 crore for pending railway projects, while increasing to Rs 15,000 the sum given to married couples under the mukhya mantri kanyadan yojana.

He also raised exception to goods and services tax (GST) rate proposed by the Centre to be implemented across the states.
 
 


The Telegraph, 5 March, 2010, http://telegraphindia.com/1100306/jsp/frontpage/story_12184102.jsp
 

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