Chief Minister Vijay Rupani
hailed his government's budget for 2020-21, presented in the assembly on Wednesday, saying it takes care of every section of the society and will turn Gujarat into an "excellent" state.
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented the Rs 2,17,287-crore budget for the next fiscal.
No new taxes were proposed in the budget which saw a healthy allocation of Rs 31,955 crore for education, Rs 11,243 crore for health and Rs 7,423 crore for the agriculture sector.
"This budget will turn Gujarat from being the best into an excellent state.
"All the sectors were kept in mind to keep Gujarat on top and we have also made sure that last man in the last line gets all the facilities," the CM said in a statement after the budget was presented on the first day of the Assembly session.
"It is aimed at increasing employment opportunities and farmers income. We have offered something for every section of the society, be it women, fishermen, small traders and disabled.
"Health and education sectors were given special attention in this budget," he said.
"For farmers, we are bringing a scheme to encourage them to take up organic farming. We will give financial assistance to farmers if they take up cow-based farming.
"We will give farmers an assistance of Rs 30,000 if they want to set up a godown in their farm to store their agricultural produce," Rupani said.
To encourage Gujarati diaspora donors wanting to do something for their native places, Rupani said a new scheme, called 'Madre Vatan' scheme, has been announced in the budget.
Under this scheme, the government will contribute a matching amount of donation given by such donors for developing various facilities such as schools, anganwadis (child care centres), roads, water tanks and ponds.
"For the poor citizens, who were earlier entitled to get only rice and wheat from fair price shops, we have decided to give them one kg dal every month, for which, we have allotted Rs 267 crore in the budget," he said.
To take health-care services closer to the poor, Rupani said his government has proposed to open Urban Health Centres in areas having 10,000 slums.
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