Budget reforms to benefit 99 per cent of people, says Punjab FM Manpreet Badal
Tuesday, 20/06/2017
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Chandigarh : Unveiling the first budget of the Congress government in Punjab, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Tuesday described his budget as one that would benefit 99 per cent of the people of Punjab.
Announcing a slew of budgetary reforms, the Finance Minister announced a 66 per cent increase in agriculture sector spending, increasing the outlay from Rs 6,383.01 crore to Rs 10,580.99 crore. “This is the first time in Punjab history that the budget outlay for agriculture will exceed Rs 10,000 crore,” Manpreet told the media after presenting the budget. The government is allocating an initial outlay of Rs 1,500 crore for waiving the debts of distressed farmers in Punjab.
The government is committed to planning the solarisation of 2,000 agriculture pump sets in the state with an 80% subsidy component and a budgetary provision of Rs 100 crore for 2017-18.
To motivate, encourage and to reward the gram panchayats to stop burning of paddy straw, an allocation of Rs 20 crore has been made.
Focusing on creation of employment, the Finance Minister said three lakh jobs would be created under the Shahed Bhagat Singh Rozgar Sirjan Yojana-Apni Gadi Apna Rozgar scheme alone, following a tie-up with two private sector majors Ola and Uber.
The state government has increased social security pension from Rs 500 per month to Rs 750 per month to all categories of beneficiaries, including old-age people, dependent children, disabled persons, widows and destitute women. The government has also decided to increase the honorarium given to the chowkidars to Rs 1,250 per month.
The government has announced an allocation of Rs 100 crore for Universal Health Insurance for the underprivileged.
Under the scheme ‘Financial Assistance to Acid Attack Female Victims’, a financial assistance of Rs 8,000 per month will be provided.
The government has announced the Modified Atta Dal Scheme using smart ration cards to the beneficiaries. Apart from this, tea leaves and sugar will be provided to BPL families. An amount of Rs 500 crore has been provided for this in 2017-18.
Based on Antyodaya concept, all deprived sections and the destitute living in rural areas, who have been ignored, will be assisted through a new scheme called Pendu Sarv Jan Hitkari Yojana, under which Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) of all 13,000 panchayats in the state based on ground-level planning will ensure that the infrastructure works are carried out with the help of various funds made available in rural areas.
A major boost to the real estate sector will come through the reduction of transfer of ownership of plots/houses from 2.5% to 2%. Stamp duty on registration of property in urban areas has been cut by a massive 3% from the existing 9% to 6%. These two measures will boost the construction sector, the Finance Minister added.
New residential and industrial estates will be established at Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana, among others. A sum of Rs 2,020 crore will be spent on various development works in the state in the construction sector alone.
Elaborating that only four crops contribute 70 per cent of the agriculture sector, the Finance Minister announced a spate of new investments for boosting agriculture and allied sectors. This includes modernisation of three milk plants at Mohali, Jalandhar and Amritsar, which will increase the milk handling capacity by 25 per cent in one year. Two pig breeding farms at Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur, and upgrading of government piggery farm at Nabha are among the proposal.
A 50 per cent hike in compensation (up from Rs 8,000 per acre to Rs 12,000 per acre), an increase in cooperative lending to farmers (which should touch Rs 10,000 crore), along with amendments to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act, and reconstitution of the Punjab Farmers Commission, are also on the agenda.
The modern and state-of-the-art ‘Green Boards’ will be provided in all primary schools. This will help the teachers in improving the quality of education. The government will also provide furniture to all government schools and free textbooks to the students.
Computer education will be introduced in all primary schools in Punjab, Manpreet stressed as he spoke of how education will the primary tool to reduce inequalities and inequities in the state.
Establishment of five new degree colleges, increase in grant for Panjab University, establishment of Central Institute for Promotion and Development of Punjabi Language at Talwandi Sabo, establishment of e-library of national standards, infrastructure development of historic colleges of Punjab (Government Mohindra College, Patiala; Government College Kapurthala; Government College Malerkotla; Government College Hoshiarpur; and Government College Amritsar), establishment of vocational training institute for girls, and Regional Directorate of Apprenticeship at Saneta village in Mohali district are among the other major initiatives in the field of education.
Ashirwaad scheme will get a 40 per cent hike with a sum of Rs 21,000 (up from Rs 15,000). The government has also increased the reservation for Scheduled Castes from 15% to 30% in all government schemes pertaining to the allotment of plots/houses in the state.
Paying tribute to Punjab for being the sword arm of India, Manpreet announced that the institute whose students qualify for the NDA and IMA will get Rs 1 lakh for every student admitted. A General Sham Singh Attariwala Armed Forces Preparatory Institute will be established at Amritsar, while Sainik School Kapurthala will be upgraded. Freedom fighters will get 300 units of free residential electricity.
A 20 per cent hike has been made in the health sector, with Rs 50 crore earmarked for the establishment of Primary Rural Rehabilitation and Drug De-addiction Centres in the state. A new medical college will be opened at Mohali, while tertiary care centres will be set up at a cost of Rs 50 crore at Fazilka and Hoshiarpur.
To enhance ease of doing business in the state, the government will set up MSME Punjab Kendras in each district with the power to grant regulatory clearance across the departments.
The government will provide all facilitation and help to the trade and industry in ensuring a smooth transition to GST regime. For this, the state will appoint a tax ombudsman to address the grievances of the trade and industry, objectively and impartially.
The state government will establish 16 Specific Industrial Parks; new industrial hubs will be set up in Sangrur and Ludhiana districts, and an exhibition cum convention centre will be set up in Ludhiana under the PPP mode. A Punjab Corporate Social Responsibility Authority (PCSRA) will be established. To increase regional linkages, four airports of Bathinda, Adampur, Ludhiana and Pathankot will be linked under the regional connectivity scheme.
The Transport Department will soon come up with a policy to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, to encourage more people to shift to these less polluting vehicles.
Punjab will provide free smart phones to youth at a cost of Rs 10 crore.
The outlay of the Department of Local Government will witness a quantum increase and it includes development of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala as smart cities. All municipal towns/areas will be open defecation-free by March 2019, and 1,17,645 individual household toilets would be built.
The government is committed to building houses for houseless poor urban SC/BC families in the state, which will involve construction of 2,000 houses for eligible families this year.
An NRI Property Safeguard Act will be formulated, and an NRI ombudsman established in the state.
Though the speech was laden with poetry from famous poets of the subcontinent, Manpreet also quoted global economists like Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and French economist Thomas Piketty as he spoke of how Punjab’s economy can benefit from modern global financial trends.
