I compliment Pranab Mukherjee for presenting an Interim Budget at the close of a year of meltdown with considerable ease. His Budget speech tells the tale of how the Indian economy weathered the global meltdown and is expected to post a growth rate of 7.1 per cent in 2008-09.
The highlight of the Interim Budget is its focus on the aam aadmi in the development process. While 2008-09 witnessed substantial hike in outlays spanning various sectors, the Interim Budget for 2009-10 has increased plan outlays for key sectors and makes adequate allocations for such flagship programmes that directly impact the aam aadmi.
As regards the impact of the Budget proposals for my state, the introduction of two new schemes (the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme), higher allocations for social welfare schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Integrated Child Development Scheme, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission and agriculture should benefit Haryana immensely.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CM, Haryana
