Reflecting the welfare thrust of the ruling TRS ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the vote-on-account budget for 2019-20 presented by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Friday proposed fresh farm loan waiver of up to Rs 1 lakh, increase in social security pension and an unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 per month, among others.
The budget, presented by Rao as he holds the finance portfolio, proposed to waive all agriculture term loans up to Rs 1 lakh, outstanding as on December 11, 2018.
An amount of Rs 6,000 crore has been proposed towards the farm loan waiver, Rao said in his budget speech in the legislative assembly.
He noted that his party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), had promised the loan waiver before the December 7, 2018 assembly elections.
The budget reflected the major electoral promises made by TRS, with thrust on welfare schemes.
The previous TRS government led by Rao had also implemented a loan waiver for farmers.
Under the Rythu Bandhu investment support scheme for ryots, the vote-on-account budget proposed to increase the support to Rs 5,000 per crop.
"Currently, the government is extending investment support of Rs 4,000 per acre per crop season amounting to Rs 8,000 per annum The total support in a year will be Rs 10,000 per acre.
The amount proposed in 2019-20 towards Rythu Bandhu is Rs 12,000 crore," Rao said.
The budget proposed Rs 650 crore in 2019-20 for the Rythu Beema farmer group insurance scheme.
Under the scheme, in the event of farmers death due to any cause, the insurance amount of Rs five lakh would be paid to his family within ten days.
"As a historic step, an amount of Rs 20,107 crore is proposed in 2019-20 Budget for Agriculture," Rao said.
Redeeming yet another election promise, the government proposed to introduce unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 per month to the eligible.
The details of the scheme are being worked out.
An amount of Rs 1810 crore has been proposed in the Budget towards this.
For the SC Special Development Fund, Rs 16,581 crore has been proposed, while Rs 9,827 crore for the SC Special Development Fund and Rs 2,004 crore for minority welfare during 2019-20, Rao said.
On irrigation, the budget said the government was determined to complete all irrigation projects in the next five years.
"It is proposed to provide an allocation of Rs 22,500 crore for irrigation," Rao said.
The government has decided to renovate the existing roadways in the state.
"We will be working in mission mode to repair all roads and make them look like a mirror. A decision has also been taken to lay BT roads in all the 12,751 gram panchayats," Rao said.
Rao said Rs 5,536 crore has been proposed in the budget for the health sector.
The budget said IT exports from the state have reached Rs 1 lakh crore this year.
"The estimated total expenditure in 2019-20 is Rs 1,82,017 crore. Of this, revenue expenditure is Rs 1,31,629 crore and capital expenditure Rs 32,815 crore," Rao said.
The estimated revenue surplus was Rs 6,564 crore and fiscal deficit Rs 27,749 crore. "The fiscal deficit is 2.81 per cent of GSDP."
The States own revenues for BE (Budget Estimates) of 2019-20 are Rs 94,776 crore in comparison with RE (Revised Estimates) of 2018-19 at Rs 72,777 crore, according to the budget.
Transfers from the Centre as per BE 2019-20 was Rs 22,835 crore, while in RE 2018-19 these were estimated at Rs 28,042 crore, the budget said.
"As per the Revised Estimates, the total expenditure in 2018-19 is estimated at Rs 1,61,857 crore. Of this, revenue expenditure is Rs 1,19,027 crore and capital expenditure Rs 28,053 crore," it said.
The estimated surplus on revenue account was Rs 353 crore.
The growth rate of GSDP, at constant prices, was 4.2 per cent in the two years prior to state formation (in 2014). By 2017-18, this accelerated by more than twice to 10.4 per cent.
Rao observed that there has been a steady growth in the states own revenue.
He said a vote-on-account budget was presented as the Centre introduced a vote-on-account budget for the next year and as "there is no clarity as to what the priorities for expenditure would be, policies, centrally sponsored schemes etc."
"Once the full budget is introduced, then only there would be clarity in these matters. The quantum of allocation to each state would also be clear by then. Thats the main reason for our state to introduce the vote-on-account budget," he said.
After the formation of new government at the Centre, post general elections, there would be a full budget introduced at the union level and the state government would also introduce full-fledged budget at that time, he added.
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