VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 3: The Jharkhand government on Thursday tabled a budget of Rs 1,01,101 Crore for the fiscal year 2022-23 stating that the budget will boost the economy with emphasis on infrastructure development, creation of job opportunities besides the welfare of farmers and downtrodden section of the society.
Presenting the budget, the state finance minister Dr. Rameshwar Oraon said that despite the Covid 19 pandemic severely affecting the overall economy, the Jharkhand government designed the economic policies in such a way that it minimized the negative impact of the pandemic. He said that during 2021-22 Jharkhand witnessed a growth rate of 8.8 percent based on the index of constant price. He said that the growth rate of Jharkhand in the fiscal year 2022-23 is expected to be 6.15 percent and 10.72 percent respectively based on constant and current price.
Oraon started his budget speech with the ‘Universal Pension Scheme’ that the Jharkhand government has launched besides the ‘CM-Support Scheme’ to provide subsidies to BPL families in petroleum.
“The ‘Universal Pension Scheme’ is aimed at the welfare of elderly citizens and ‘CM-Support Scheme’ is a subsidy scheme for BPL. This is an example of how we care for people. We started a new experiment while preparing the budget. We sought suggestions and opinions of common people about the aim and objectives of the budget. We sought their opinion through ‘Hamar Apan Budget’ and a large number of youths participated in the pre-budget discussion,” Oraon said.
Oraon said that out of the proposed budgetary amount the government proposes to spend Rs 31896.64 Crore on the general sector, Rs 37312. 22 Crore for the social sector and Rs 31891.14 Crore for the economic sector.
He said that despite a fiscal deficit of Rs 11286.47 Crore which is 2.81 percent of the total GDP, Jharkhand is on its way to an economic boom. In comparison with the previous budget, the budgetary outlay of the social sector has been increased by 11 percent. The social sector covers health, drinking water, education, and food.
Agriculture sector
Oraon said that to promote agriculture, the government has decided to launch the Agri Smart Programme. In the first phase under this scheme, 100 villages will be selected on the basis of the recommendation of local MLAs. A gap analysis survey will be conducted for the convergence of developmental projects. Similarly, Jal Nidhi Yojana has been launched for the construction of 1766 deep boring and 1963 percolation tanks. The budget has proposed to procure the purchase of cow dungs from farmers as part to promote bioenergy. Minister said that a corpus fund has been created with a seed amount of Rs 25 Crore to provide compensation to farmers against damage to their crops. The minister informed that the government has spent Rs 836 Crore for loan waiver of farmers.
Water resources
Oraon said that Rs 1894.48 Crore has been earmarked for the water and resources department for the construction of check dams, dams, development of irrigation facilities. For instance, for irrigation of parched land at Masalia and Raneshwar in Dumka ‘Masalia Raneshwar Mega Lift Project’ has been sanctioned with a budgetary grant of Rs 1204 Crore.
Rural Development
The Minister informed that special emphasis has been given to make MNREGA further effective. “We have decided to create 12.50 Crore human days under MNREGA, “he said.
The Minister informed the House that the poor will now have a spacious house. Under the Prime Minister Housing Project (rural) the government provides Rs 1.30 Lakh to each beneficiary in IAP district and Rs 1.20 Lakh in the non-IPA district. We think that in a 25 square meters area you can’t build the house properly. Hence, our government has decided to provide Rs 50000 to each beneficiary so that they construct an additional room,” the minister said.
The Minister also said that the government has planned to open ‘Palash Retail Outlets’ to support women entrepreneurs of Sakhi mandal where they can sell and showcase their products.
