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Issue:January' 2018

CHANDIGARH DIARY

Special pension for
farmers & workers

V.P. Prabhakar

Captain Abhimanyu presented Budget in the Assembly With no new taxes imposed, the Haryana Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, on Februray 25, presented a please-all budget in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. This was the last budget of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government for 2019-20 while keeping the budget size of Rs 1.32 lakh crore with focus on farm sector, skill development, civil aviation, employment, science and technology and town and country planning.
This is the fifth budget of the present government coming barely a few months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as also Assembly elections.

The state government has earmarked Rs 1500 crore for a special pension it announced for the farmers and the workers in unorganized sector.

Captain Abhimanyu said the Haryana GSDP is estimated to grow by 8.2 per cent in 2019-20, which is higher than India’s GDP growth rate of 7.2 per cent in the same year. The GSDP at constant prices is estimated at Rs 5.26 lakh crore and Rs 7.07 lakh crore at current prices in 2018-19. Per Capita Income (PCI) at the constant prices is estimated as Rs 1,68,209 in 2018-19, greater than the national PCI of Rs 91,921. The PCI at the current prices is estimated to be Rs 2,26,644 in 2018-19. According to CRISIL, Haryana is one of the only two states in India that registered both high GSDP growth and high GVA growth in employment intensive sectors, higher than the national average.

New Schemes

The government introduced new schemes to provide financial and social security cover to the families of cultivating farmers in possession of land up to 5 acres and for the families of workers in the unorganized sector with the family income of less than Rs 15,000 per month. In the case of farmers, this will be in addition to the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme announced by Central government of India. An outlay of Rs 1,500 crore is provided in this budget for these schemes.

In recognition of the yeoman contribution being made by 'dastkars', 'kameras' and other artisans in terms of providing employment and livelihoods at the grass-root level. Conscious of their economic needs, the government has proposed to provide a rebate of Rs 2.00/KWh up to a connected load of 10KWh in A and B blocks in addition to the rebate of Rs 2.00/KWh up to a connected load of 20 KWh already being provided in C and D blocks.

New initiatives

The government also intends to constitute the Haryana State Audit & Accounts Services to facilitate better management and accountability of public finance and effective implementation of the proposed legislation. An output-outcome framework for Budget 2019-20 that will align public spending with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and Haryana Vision-2030.

“Performance Linked Outlay” has been introduced to ensure efficient and prudent utilization of resources. Onetime exercise was conducted to ascertain the amount of funds lying idle with the concerned organizations. The government has been able to unearth unutilized money in significant amounts. Banks to provide a plethora of benefits to government employees under corporate salary package. Under this scheme, four banks --- SBI, HDFC, PNB and HARCO Bank --- have been selected for providing benefits such as natural death cover of Rs 2 lakh, medical facility of the order of Rs 50,000 and accidental insurance to employees up to Rs 30 lakh.