CHANDIGARH, FEB 25
No fresh taxes have been proposed and the existing rates of taxes have been left untouched in the Rs 1,32,165.99-crore Haryana Budget for fiscal 2019-20, presented by the Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, to the state Assembly, today.
Unfolding the proposals contained in the Budget—his fifth in a row--Capt Abhimanyu said in consonance with the theme of “Haryana Ek Haryanvi Ek”, these aimed at putting the state in higher growth trajectory and fulfilling the aspirations of the people in the last year of the tenure of the present government.
Lacing his Budget with new initiatives, he outlined two schemes to provide financial and social security cover to families of farmers of farmers with land holding of up to 5 acres, and those of workers in unorganized sectors with family income of less than Rs. 15,000 per month. This is besides a deal with four public sector banks to provide government employees social security benefits.
A number of other such initiatives as introduction of Haryana Accountability of Public Finance Act and output – outcome framework to monitor utilisation of scare financial resources in a fruitful manner for overall development of the state, have also been taken.
With the economy firing on all cylinders, the Budget seeks to combine fiscal prudence with sagacious utilization of resources and idle funds to optimize their use and effect. Riding the crest of better realization of both tax and non-tax receipts, Capt Abhimanyu has not allowed himself to cross the fiscal barriers. While fiscal deficit and debt-to-GSDP ratio have been kept within limits, the pace of reversal of the trend of rising financial deficit has been hastened.
Quoting Kautilya who said, “A tax collector should collect taxes from a tax payer just like a bee collects honey from a flower in an expert manner without disturbing its petals”, Capt Abhimanyu said, “In this spirit, like in the past, this year also, I do not intend to propose any change in the present rates of taxes under the Haryana Value Added Tax (HVAT) Act, 2003 or introduce any new tax in these Budget estimates for fiscal 2019-20”.
Though no new tax has been proposed revenue receipt is expected to increase to Rs 82,219.41 crore in 2019-20 through better realisation of tax and non-tax receipts, over RE 2018-19 receipt of Rs 7,6828.11 crore. This includes state’s own tax receipt of Rs 51,105 crore and non-tax revenue of Rs 10,024.95 crore.
The Budget represents an increase of 14.73 per cent over BE 2018-19 outlay of Rs 1,15198.29 crore and 9.79 per cent over RE 2018-19 of Rs 1,20,375.40 crore. The Budget outlay comprises 28.7 per cent as capital expenditure of Rs 37,924.09 crore and 71.3 per cent as revenue expenditure of Rs 94,241.90 crore.
The proposed major sources of tax revenue are GST – Rs 22,750 crore, VAT- Rs 10,900 crore, Excise Duty - Rs 7,000 crore and Stamp & Registration - Rs 6,500 crore. Non-tax receipts include among others EDC – Rs 3,500 crore, Transport – Rs 2,000 crore and Mines – Rs 800 crore.
The Finance Minister said, in addition, the government proposed to borrow up to 3 per cent of GSDP, which amounts to Rs 22,413.79 crore in 2019-20. Further, grant-in-aid from Government of India amounting to Rs 9,872.82 crore will be another major source of funding in 2019-20.
Detailing broad contours of the initiatives in the shape of social security schemes, the Finance Minister said two new schemes would provide financial and social security cover to families of farmers of farmers with land holding of up to 5 acres, and those of workers with income of Rs 15,000 per month.
Besides, four banks have been selected for providing benefits such as natural death cover of Rs. 2 lakh, medical facility of Rs. 50,000, and accidental insurance to state government employees, up to Rs 30 lakh, he added.
Aligning budgetary allocations with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like last year, Capt Abhimanyu has allocated Rs 46,562.37 crore out of total budget of Rs 1.32 lakh crore to the schemes pertaining to 15 SDGs being implemented in the state.
He has allocated 26.12 per cent of the total budget to Economic Services (i.e. agriculture & allied, irrigation and rural electrification, subsidy -10.31%, power – 4.63%; transport, civil aviation, road and bridges – 4.12%; rural development and panchayats - 3.83 %; and others 3.23%).
As much as 30.69% is allocated to social services (comprising education – 11.61%, social welfare – 7.05%, health and family welfare – 3.80%, public health engineering – 2.71% and others – 5.52%). General Services get 15.28 per cent share (administrative services - 4.49%, pension - 8.07% and others 2.72%) and 27.91 per cent has been allocated for repayment of debt (principal –15.33% and interest - 12.58%).
“The objective of inclusive growth is incomplete and meaningless unless it percolates to the downtrodden sections of the society and women”, said the Finance Minister. Towards this end, an outlay of Rs 8,293.90 crore, being 20.04 per cent of the welfare & development schemes outlay of Rs 41,386.38 crore, has been earmarked for the welfare of Scheduled Castes under SCSP component in 2019-20 and 24.07per cent amounting to Rs 9961.96 crore for welfare of women.
Quoting Kautilya again, who said, (It means that “Government is happy when people are happy. People’s welfare is Government’s welfare. What is dear to people is dear to Government”), Capt Abhimanyu went on to present the achievements of the present government in the last more than four years, its vision and an action plan to achieve the growth agenda to fulfill the aspirations of the people in the last year of its present tenure.
“Inclusive growth has been a key agenda for our Hon’ble Prime Minister, and on behalf of the Government of Haryana, I welcome the new schemes introduced by the Union Government in the Interim Budget 2019-20, which include, among others, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), an income-support scheme for farmers who are the backbone of our economy, and the PM Shram-Yogi Maandhan Yojana offering income security in the form of pension to workers in the unorganized sector, who constitute a significantly large part of our economy”, Capt Abhimanyu said.
Also the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, RERA Act 2016 and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act in 2018 introduced by the Government have improved accountability and transparency. The historic decision to provide 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections among General Category aspirants is another milestone towards social and economic justice.
“I also applaud Hon’ble Finance Minister of India for reducing GST rates on items of common use as that has led to higher disposable incomes, laying the foundations for buoyant growth. I further compliment the Union Finance Minister for enhancement of income tax limit to Rs 5 lakh, giving significant relief to middle class tax payers. An individual tax payer having a gross income up to Rs 6.50 lakh may not be required to pay any income tax if they make investments in provident funds, specified savings, insurance etc”, he said.
Dedicating his budget to the people of Haryana in consonance with the theme ‘Haryana Ek Haryanvi Ek’, Capt Abhimanyu expressed his gratitude to each and every member of the House for giving patient hearing to his Budget speech. “I am personally grateful to the Hon’ble CM who gave me opportunity to present the State Budget for five years in a row,” he said.
The Finance Minister requested all members of the House to discuss, debate and adopt the budget proposals, which are dedicated to the people of the state to take the state to new heights to emerge as one of the leading states of the Union.
“With these words, I commend the Budget for the year 2019-20 to the House for its consideration and approval”, he concluded.
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