Assam to introduce digital budget on March 12

The Assam Assembly will introduce digital budget in its next session, doing away with the traditional printed booklet form practice.
Assembly Speaker Hiten Goswami told reporters today that the state budget will be presented by Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on March 12 in a digital format.
The Assembly session will get underway from February 6.
To reporters' query if hard copies of the budget would be provided to journalists to report about the budget, Goswami said the Finance Minister would inform the media about it.
Apart from digital budget, the Assembly session will also see exclusive 'Members Hour', a year-long calendar, 'Best Legislator Award', setting up of a Pay Commission for MLAs' salary and fellowships for research work on history of the Assembly.

For the legislators to highlight major problems in their constituencies, there will be a 'Member Hour' every Tuesday with the Minister of the concerned department replying to the MLAs' questions.

Like the Parliament, the state assembly will have a year-long calender where various sessions of the House with dates will be prepared in advance, he said.
'Best Legislator Award' would also be introduced from the upcoming session, he added.
A Pay Commission for salary of legislators would also be formed for fair decision on the increase of their salary, allowances and other facilities, Goswami said.
A Rs 10 lakh fellowship would also be granted to a journalist or scholar for research on the history of Assam Assembly since its inception in pre-Independence 1937.

The opening day of the two-month long budget session will have the governor's address followed by discussions, Goswami said, adding, supplementary demands for funds would be taken up on February 19 and passed the next day.
The Speaker also mooted the idea of a 'Best Assembly Reporter Award' for the encouragement of the journalists to report well on the House proceedings.