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Chief minister Naveen Patnaik's pre-poll largesse of distributing free laptops to meritorious students who pass the +2 level examination is likely to burden the state exchequer by Rs 300 crore.
The more worrying factor, however, is the timing of the scheme's announcement after tabling of the state Budget in February. With no Budgetary provision, finance department officials are in a quandary on how to fund the scheme.
Earlier, the finance department had to accommodate the additional subsidy of Rs 180 crore almost as a last minute adjustment in the Budget for 2013-14 for Naveen's Rs 1 per kg rice scheme, also a pre-poll dole. The Budget for 2013-14 has set aside Rs 1312.05 crore for implementation of the subsidized rice scheme.
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“The picture is still very hazy. There is no decision yet as to when the free laptop scheme is going to be implemented and how many meritorious students are going to be its beneficiaries. Nevertheless, it is going to create a financial burden of at least Rs 300 crore on state exchequer. There is no Budget provision for the scheme and this has raised questions on the source for funding it”, said a finance department official on condition of anonymity.
The state governments' finances are also stressed with the possibility of the government missing its Budgetary tax and non-tax revenue target of around Rs 20,000 crore for 2012-13.
“Growth in most of the tax and non-tax segments has been tepid in 2012-13. Overall, we may marginally miss the Budgetary estimates on revenue collection”, the official said.
Another government official said, “The government has the option to meet funding for targeted schemes either from the Chief Minister's relief fund or surplus earning accumulated by its cash rich miner Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC).”
The chief minister while announcing the State Youth Policy last Sunday, announced to distribute free laptops to meritorious students who pass +2 examinations, joining the league of states like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the governments had announced similar schemes to woo targeted youth voters.
“To bridge the digital divide, all the meritorious students at plus two level will be provided with free laptops. Under this initiative, special focus would be given to girls and students belonging to SC and ST communities,” the chief minister had said while making the policy announcement.
