AAP govt presents its first full budget in Punjab; focus on agriculture, health, education

The AAP government in Punjab presented its first full budget on Friday, focusing on agriculture, education and health as it targeted the Centre for ignoring its long-pending legitimate demands and the previous state governments for leaving behind a financial morass.The Budget includes a risk mitigation scheme for horticulture, an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore to encourage crop diversification and two new coaching schemes for students.The Rs 1.96 lakh crore Budget for 2023-24 presented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema in the state assembly is 26 per cent bigger than the previous years.

The AAP government in Punjab presented its first full budget on Friday, focusing on agriculture, education and health as it targeted the Centre for ignoring its “long-pending legitimate demands” and the previous state governments for leaving behind a “financial morass”.

The Budget includes a risk mitigation scheme for horticulture, an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore to encourage crop diversification and two new coaching schemes for students.

The Rs 1.96 lakh crore Budget for 2023-24 presented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema in the state assembly is 26 per cent bigger than the previous year’s. Spending on agriculture and allied sectors is up 20 per, and policing gets 11 per cent more.

Soon after coming to power, the Aam Aadmi Party government first passed a vote-on account in March last year and then its budget in June for the remaining part of the financial year.

As Cheema read out his Budget speech, Congress MLAs staged a walkout when the Speaker did not allow the state party chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring to raise a point of order.

The Budget does not have any provision for the Rs 1,000 a month the AAP promised to every woman in the state before elections. But Cheema later told reporters that the remaining “guarantees” too will be fulfilled.

The opposition parties slammed the Budget, saying it shattered the common man's hopes and claimed that the government will soon drive the state deep into debt. BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh said “it sounds like a fairy tale”.

But Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called it a budget of the common people, and a roadmap for a new, progressive and prosperous Punjab.

Cheema’s speech, during which he quoted a hymn by Guru Ravidass, lasted about two and a half hours. He said the AAP government will work non-stop towards the creation of a 'Rangla Punjab' (vibrant Punjab).

The state’s electricity subsidy bill in the coming year is expected to be Rs 20,244 crore – including free power worth Rs 9,331 crore to farmers and Rs 7,780 crore in subsidy for domestic consumers.

The state government will soon come out with a new agriculture policy for which a committee of experts has been formed, the finance minister said. The Budget sets aside Rs 13,888 crore for agriculture and allied sectors, up 20 per cent from the previous year.

Apart from Rs 1,000 for the crop diversification scheme, it includes a revolving fund for Basmati crop procurement and a 33 per cent subsidy on cotton seed.

The Budget announced a new market risk mitigation scheme for horticulture -- the Bhaav Antar Bhugtan Yojana. Cheema also announced crop insurance for farmers.

The government intends to “solarise” all diesel-based agriculture pump sets in the next five years and all agriculture pump sets by 2030.

The government has decided to engage 2,574 'kisan mitras' to provide information to farmers at their doorsteps, he said.

The minister claimed that paddy husk burning, which causes air pollution in the region, had dropped 30 per cent and allocated Rs 350 crore for equipment to manage paddy stubble.

Under flak over the “deterioration” in law and order, the government has set aside Rs 10,523 for policing, an increase of 11 percent over the previous year’s Budget. The minister asked “enemies of Punjab” to fall in line or the state government “shall destroy them from the roots”.

Cheema claimed that the Bhagwant Mann government inherited the “financial mess” left by the previous regimes, and also targeted the Centre.

''In spite of repeated requests being made to the Union government, I feel sorry to state that it has been turning a deaf ear to the long pending legitimate demands amounting to Rs 9,035 crore of the state,'' he claimed.

For the education sector, the minister proposed an outlay of Rs 17,072 crore, up 12 percent over last year.

The government will spend Rs 200 crore on upgrading 117 government institutes to “schools of eminence”.

The Budget sets aside Rs 20 crore for upgrading the skills of government teachers, the minister said and also referred to the recent trip by a group of principals for training in a Singapore.

A Punjab Young Entrepreneur Programme had been launched to encourage class 11 students to come up with original business ideas, for which they will get Rs 2,000 each as seed money.

The health sector gets Rs 4,781 crore. Cheema said the government has set up 504 'aam aadmi clinics’ and another 142 are in the pipeline.

The construction of the second phase of terminal building of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport is under active consideration, he said.

No new taxes were announced with Cheema indicating that the state will rely on an expected rise in revenue from Goods and Services Tax, excise and stamp duty.

The state's effective outstanding debt is expected to be Rs 3.27 lakh crore compared to Rs 2.92 lakh crore in the past year. The revenue deficit is projected at Rs 24,588 crore and fiscal deficit at 34,784 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)