Post elections, Nitin Patel announces farm, youth friendly Gujarat budget

State tax revenues grow by nearly 21% for April 2017 to January 2018

Having faced Patidar agitation and lost several seats in the agrarian belt of Saurashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Gujarat government announced a farm-friendly budget for 2018-19 that also looked to address critical issues such as unemployment and ongoing water crisis.

While the state tax revenues for April 2017 to January 2018 grew by 20.92 per cent as against the same period last year, deputy chief minister and finance minister Nitin Patel announced fresh levy as well as revision of excise duty and other fees on foreign liquor to boost revenue surplus for 2018-19.

"Our policies are geared towards the