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Updated February 29th, 2020 at 19:35 IST

Haryana budget focuses on edu, health, agri; Cong says bud disappoints all sections

The Haryana government on Friday presented a Rs 1.42 lakh crore budget for 2020-21, with a focus on education, health, agriculture and security.

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The Haryana government on Friday presented a Rs 1.42 lakh crore budget for 2020-21, with a focus on education, health, agriculture and security.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance ministry portfolio, presented his maiden budget in the State Assembly here.

Presenting the budget estimates, in which he proposed no fresh tax, Khattar said under the Mukhya Mantri Saksham Chatravriti Yojana, scholarships have been hiked and students securing more than 80 per cent marks in Class 5th will be now provided Rs 6,000 in Class 6th, 7th and 8th as against Rs 1,500 earlier.

Free bicycles will be given to Dalit students of 9th and 11th classes in villages that do not have secondary and senior secondary schools.

In his marathon two-and-a-half hour speech in Hindi in the state Assembly here, Khattar said the budget has been prepared with a focus on education, health, security and self-reliance.

In this budget, there has been an increase of 31.7 per cent and 23.17 per cent on education and health,respectively. The overall Rs 1,42,343.78 crore budget represents a 7.70 per cent increase over the previous one.

However, the main opposition Congress slammed the budget for 2020-21, with party senior leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kiran Choudhary and Randeep Singh Surjewala saying it disappoints all sections of the society.

Expressing concerns over the state debt, pegged at nearly Rs 1.98 lakh crore, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said there has been a three-fold increase in debt in the past five years.

The state debt is projected at nearly Rs 1.98 lakh crore.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala called it an anti-people budget. "It is a hopeless, anti-people, debt-ridden and zero-performance budget," he said.

Surjewala said that allocation on electricity has been reduced by 43 per cent while transport allocations have gone down by 34.9 per cent.

Senior leader Kiran Choudhary and State Congress chief Kumari Selja said the budget does not have anything to offer to any section while Indian National Lok Dal's lone MLA Abhay Singh Chautala dubbed the budget as “jugglery of words”.

In his budget speech, Khattar also said he has incorporated 70 per cent suggestions he had received from various stakeholders including legislators during his over month-long pre-budget consultation exercise.

To provide affordable housing, a new department 'Housing for All' will be created to cover all the existing schemes of housing and one lakh houses will be provided by 2022, he said.

Khattar, who is heading the BJP-JJP coalition government, which came to power in October last year, said the government has allocated Rs 5,474.25 crore to agriculture, Rs 19,343 crore to education and sports, Rs 6,533 crore to health and medical education, Rs 6,294 crore to rural development and panchayat, Rs 349 crore to industries and Rs 9,000 crore to pensions.

The budget has projected revenue deficit of Rs 15,373.95 crore and fiscal deficit of Rs 25,681.60 crore, respectively. State has projected revenue receipt of Rs 89,964.14 crore and revenue expenditure of Rs 1,05,338.09 crore.

Haryana's economic growth rate is projected to be 7.75 per cent during the current fiscal while during the year 2019-20 on current prices, per capita income is estimated at Rs 2,64,207 which is almost double that of the national average, he said.

“It is a matter of great pride that we are able to keep the fiscal deficit within the 3 per cent limit of GDP as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission. Our total debt has also remained within the prescribed limit of 25 per cent of GDP," said Khattar.

Khattar said in this budget the government has merged 132 schemes into 46, abolished 18 schemes and included 6 schemes in other departments.

He asserted that the government is committed to the national goal of making agriculture futuristic and doubling farmers' income. Under special category 'agriculture dependent activities' the power rates will be reduced from Rs 7.50 to Rs 4.75 per unit, he said.

Touching upon other initiatives in the education sector, he said all 1,487 government senior secondary schools where science faculty is available will be converted into smart schools in 2020-21.

The Board Examination for class 8th will be started with the objective of increasing the academic level and learning outcomes of students from the academic session 2020-21.

In the health sector, to ensure that sudden heart-related problems do not become fatal, sorbitrate tablets will be kept free in public places such as railway stations, bus stands, cereal markets etc. as a first aid. 

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Published February 29th, 2020 at 19:35 IST

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