A separate booklet on outlay for the agriculture sector marked the Odisha government’s Budget for 2013-14, otherwise replete with proposals for various target groups, keeping an eye on next year’s Legislative Assembly election.
The Budget also stressed on infrastructure development, social security, health care and education. Some people-centric schemes getting significant allocation were social security pension schemes for senior citizens (Rs 1,150 crore), concrete roads for panchayats (Rs 499 crore) and the flagship Rs 1 per kg rice scheme (Rs 1,312 crore). Though the Budget does not burden the common man with new taxes, it seeks to raise additional revenue from the mineral sector. The revenue surplus Budget contains a total outlay of Rs 60,303 crore, nearly 20 per cent higher than the Rs 52,031 crore for 2012-13.
Continuing a focus on infrastructure, the Budget has an outlay of Rs 11,718 crore for the sector, a 23 per cent increase over the Rs 9,558 crore in 2012-13.
