Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Haryana to emulate in presenting budget onbasis of revenue and capital classification

CHANDIGARH, JAN 4
The Haryana Government is planning to emulate the Central Government by presenting its Budget on the basis of revenue and capital classification in February 2017 itself. This would facilitate the authorisation of expenditure by the time the new financial year begins.
        This was stated by Haryana Finance Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu while speaking at pre -budget consultations held by Union Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitely in New Delhi today.
        Capt. Abhimanyu said that the State Government has welcomed the decision of the Central Government to do away with the artificial distinction between Plan and Non-Plan from 2017-18, introduction of classification of expenditure into revenue and capital heads and advancement of presentation of Union Budget to February 1, 2017.
        He urged the Union Finance Minister to enhance the allocation especially for development of infrastructural facilities in rural areas, being priority areas for focussed attention. 
          While pointing out that all Cooperative Sugar Mills in the State are running in losses and have negative net worth, he said the loss being suffered by the sugar industry at present can be off-set to some extent by laying emphasis on by-products, such as setting up of ethanol and co-generation plants. Therefore, he requested the Central Government to provide financial assistance in the form of interest free loans or soft loans for setting up of ethanol and co-generation plants to enable the Sugar Mills to improve their financial health to some extent.
        Capt. Abhimanyu said that agriculture Sector is the largest employer of the economy and most of the rural population is directly or indirectly dependent on it for its livelihood. However, the sector has been under stress since the last few years and, therefore, needs the support of the Government. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the farmers friendly crop insurance scheme is a major initiative in this direction. The scheme was implemented during Kharif 2016 and is being continued in Rabi 2016-17. The Scheme covers the damage caused to the crops by inundation apart from hailstorm and landslide. Post-harvest losses to crops by unseasonal rains is also covered for the first time. During Kharif 2016, as many as 6.92 lakh farmers and 11.38 lakh hectares were covered under the scheme in the State.
        He said that there were some issues which the Central Government may like to address on priority, like subsidy being transferred directly by the Government of India to the Insurance Companies without any record or information sharing with the State Government, no well defined procedure for grievance redressal of the farmers and shortage of manpower with empanelled insurance companies. To deal with the issue of stubble burning, he sought both financial and technical assistance from the Central Government. 
        He said that like Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP), the State Government is examining classification of urban and rural heads of budget expenditure.  This would facilitate the State Government to achieve the objective of “Sabka Sath – Sabka Vikas” which is the basic principle of governance encompassing the vision of balanced growth of both rural and urban areas.
        He said that the State’s GSDP has recorded 8.2 per cent growth rate as per the advance estimates of 2015-16 as against the all India growth of 7.6 per cent. The primary sector contributed about 18 per cent whereas secondary and tertiary sectors contributed about 31 per cent and 51 per cent respectively in the Gross Value added of the State in 2015-16. The Per Capita Income (PCI) of the State is one of the highest in the country. In 2015-16, the Per Capita Income of the State at current prices was estimated as Rs165204 as compared to the National Per Capita Income of Rs  93293. With prudent fiscal management, the State Government is able to absorb impact of Seventh Pay Commission. This reflected in fiscal indicators, which have remained well within the prescribed limits fixed by Central Finance Commission. In 2016-17, the fiscal deficit is expected to be 2.6 per cent of GSDP. Similarly, debt to GSDP ratio is estimated at 19.05 in 2016-17, he added.
              He said that as the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi has recently announced that in the wake of increase in the sowing by the farmers during the current Rabi season, Government of India would bear interest for 60 days on the loans obtained by the farmers during the last sowing season. The amount will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the farmers and three crore Kisan Cards issued would be converted to Rupay Card within three months.  As a result of these measures, the farmers will be benefited to the tune of about Rs 27 crore in the State.
        Under the trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile that is JAM, all the households have been covered under Jan Dhan. Haryana is one of the top ranking States in the country with Adhaar enrolment and mobile adoption is very high in State, he added. Haryana is one of the top ranking States in the country with Aadhaar enrolment of 109 per cent in the above 18 years category. This serves as a robust platform to meaningfully use Aadhaar as an identifier for benefits management and delivery of citizen services.  In the fiscal 2016-17, the State Government has identified 73 schemes with an outlay of Rs 5916 crore under which benefits can be transferred directly to the accounts of beneficiaries. Till date, the Haryana Government has been successful in weeding out 22.70 lakh ghost beneficiaries and this has resulted in a savings of Rs 350.69 crore.  Haryana State is committed to transfer of Government benefits through close coordination of IT enabled services, which is proposed to be aligned with the Government of India portal as and when it becomes operational.  The Government of Haryana will be able to completely switch over to DBT mode by the end of this financial year.    
        Haryana became the fourth State to achieve the milestone by covering all the 48.58 lakh households and providing them with a bank account by December 18, 2014 under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.  Till   November 30, 2016, as many as 54.33 lakh bank accounts have been opened in Haryana (28.39 lakh accounts were in rural areas and 25.93 lakh in urban areas), out of which 41.22 lakh accounts have been linked with Aadhaar. About 46.93 lakh Rupay Cards have been issued under the PMJDY. The total amount mobilised under the scheme was Rs 2446.74 crore.
        He said that Haryana became the first State in the country to organise the Digi Dhan Mela at Gurugram on December 26,2016 to drive digital payments under the two Schemes  of  Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants launched by the Government of India. He pointed out there were some issues regarding digital mode of transactions, which needed to be addressed. Availability of POS machines in sufficient numbers for installation in Government Departments as well as in private sector in the State, availability of internet connectivity across the State in 24x7 mode need to be attended on priority. Another major issue of concern is that Government receipts, received through digital mode of transactions should reach State coffers in a timely, transparent and auditable manner, for which suitable procedures are to evolved.  Charges on digital transactions and perception of security risk involved in it among common citizens are some of the major demotivating factors, which need to be addressed.
        He said that the Haryana Government has initiated a rigorous campaign on motivating and facilitating Haryana citizens towards digital payments. The State Government has initiated the process to install 3000 POS Machines at various State Government offices in a time bound manner to enable the citizens to pay fees, fines, challans in a cashless mode.  Instructions have also been issued to all State Government Departments to encourage receipts of more than Rs 5000 only through cashless methods. Directions have been given for use of Aadhaar enabled MPOS machines by traders, merchants etc. as well as the State Government Departments.
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