rythu bandhu – india politics 2019

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12,000 crore for Rythu Bandhu; farm loans up to ₹1 lakh to be waived

Irrigation, agriculture and welfare schemes continue to get a lion’s share in the Telangana’s Vote-on-Account Budget for 2019-20 with a total size of ₹1,82,017 crore.

Presenting the Budget today, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has allocated ₹22,500 crore for the irrigation sector for the completion of various projects and ₹20,106 crore for the agri sector.

Farm-loan waiver

The Chief Minister announced a waiver of farm loans, piled up till December 11, 2018 (the day election results are announced) up to ₹1 lakh. He allocated ₹6,000 crore for the first tranche this financial year.

As promised in the election campaign, the Chief Minister has hiked the Rythu Bandhu grant to ₹10,000 each (from ₹8,000) to farmers on every acre they own. This will be in two tranches of ₹5,000 each ahead of the Kharif and Rabi seasons. He allocated ₹12,000 crore for the scheme in the Budget.

Other prominent allocations: Aasara pensions (₹12,067 crore); KalyanLaksmi and Shaadi Mubarak (₹1,450 crore); Unemployment allowance at ₹3,016 per beneficiery (₹1,810 crore); Scheduled Castes development (₹16,581 crore); Scheduled Tribes development (₹9,827 crore); and Rythu Bima (₹650 crore).

The Chief Minister presented the sixth Budget (after the formation of the State) as he kept the portfolio with him, while expanding the Cabinet early this week. Former Finance Minister Eatala Rajender has now been given Medical and Health Department. He presented the Budget in the Legislative Council.

“We chose to present a Vote-on-Account Budget for 2019-20 as the Centre also came out with Vote-on-Account Budget. We will present a full-fledged one after studying Central priorities, getting clarity on likely Central fund flows,” he said.

‘The worst is over’

The Chief Minister said the State’s economy was in a poor state at the time of the formation in 2014.

“It was crisis-ridden. There was acute power shortage and unscheduled power cuts, forcing the industries to work in shifts, resulting in the decline of the industrial sector. The farming sector was in distress resulting in a very high incidence of farmer suicides, and the economy was growing at a very slow pace,” he said.

With a stressed rural economy, stalled irrigation projects, tanks in a state of disrepair and beset with successive droughts, the State was confronted with a daunting task, he said.

From there, the State developed a ‘Telangana Model’ of development which is being discussed nationwide. “We could revive the industrial sector as we emerged as a power-surplus State.”

GSDP growth

During 2012-13 and 2013-14, the region’s growth in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was 4.2 per cent, far below the national average of 5.9 per cent. “After the formation of Telangana, the growth rate more than doubled to 10.6 per cent in 2018-19,” he said.

Telangana’s per capita income is at ₹2,06,107 for the year 2018-19, as against ₹1,81,102 in 2017-18, showing a growth of 13.8 per cent (as against the national growth rate of 8.6 per cent).

Budget estimates

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He said the State’s own revenues (SOTR) for 2019-20 (budget estimates) are at ₹94,776 crore as against the revised estimates of ₹72,777 crore (for 2018-19). The average SOTR growth rate in the first four years after formation is 17.71 per cent.

Transfers from the Centre (estimates) in 2019-20 would be at ₹22,835 crore, while in (revised estimates) 2018-19, these are at ₹28,042 crore.

The estimated total expenditure in 2019-20 is ₹1,82,017 crore. Of this, revenue expenditure is ₹1,31,629 crore and capital expenditure is ₹32,815 crore.

In 2019-20, the estimated revenue surplus is ₹6,564 crore and fiscal deficit is ₹27,749 crore. The fiscal deficit is 2.81 per cent of GSDP.

The primary sector is expected to register a growth rate of 10.9 per cent in 2018-19. “This is possible due to improvement in power situation and rejuvenation of irrigation facilities,” he said.

Boosted by improved power supply and a liberalised industrial policy (TS-iPASS), the secondary sector is likely to register a growth rate of 14.9 per cent in 2018-19.

During 2005-14, AP’s total capital expenditure on 23 districts, was ₹1,29,683 crore. The capital expenditure on Telangana region was only ₹54,052 crore during the period. But during 2014 to 2019, the capex in Telangana stands at ₹1,68,913 crore.

Soon after the Budget session began at 11.30 am, the House passed a resolution condemning the killing of 40 CRPF personnel at Pulwama in Kashmir recently.

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced a compensation of ₹25 lakh each to the kin of the slain CRPF men.

Floor leaders of Congress, BJP and MIM also paid tributes to the deceased.

After the Chief Minister presented the Budget, Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy adjourned the House for Saturday. The Budget session will last till February 25.

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Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Tuesday announced a basic outline of its manifesto for the upcoming elections in the state, with caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao holding a three-hour long meeting with the party’s Manifesto Committee at Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, KCR said, “We discussed several issues pertaining to the people. We took into consideration what the people want and what their main demands were. Instead of looking for votes, we took a rational approach and saw what the need of the hour is. Whatever we promise, we will fulfill.”

Highlighting the achievements of his government, he also lashed out at opposition parties, saying, “Whatever people say, we are the ones who fought for Telangana.”

For farmers, KCR said that the TRS would waive off agricultural loans worth Rs 1 lakh while adding that it would increase the incentive under the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme to Rs 10,000 per acre of land. A recently-launched flagship scheme of the government, Rythu Bandhu gives farmers an incentive of Rs 4,000 for each acre of land as investment for the crop.

The TRS also promised to promote food processing units with the help of subsidies, which it claimed will also indirectly help farmers. “To stop adulteration, we’ll engage women in the food processing industry. Every constituency will have a food processing unit,” KCR said.

Speaking about the Aasara Pension scheme, a welfare scheme which provides pension to certain sections of the society, KCR said that close to 40 lakh people were already benefiting under the programme. “We’ll decrease the age limit to 57. This will result in 8 lakh more people getting added to the scheme. The cost will increase, but we will bear it. Pension amount will also increase from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,016. Meanwhile, for people with disabilities, the amount will be increased to Rs 3,016 from Rs 1,500,” KCR said.

The caretaker CM also said that a ‘growth engine’ would be established for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people in the state and an amount of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore for the same. He also assured that a corporation would be set up for the Reddy and Vyshya community.

He also said that after further discussion, the TRS would come out with a more detailed manifesto.

The state Legislative Assembly was dissolved on September 6 after Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan accepted a recommendation by the state cabinet. Immediately after meeting the Governor, KCR met with reporters at Telangana Bhavan on the same day and released a list of 105 TRS candidates. What was especially seen as a political gamble, was the party chief’s decision to renominate almost all sitting MLAs.

While the TRS won 63 seats out of the total 119 in the Legislative Assembly during the 2014 elections, it presently has close to 90 MLAs in its party after a series of defections. There has been some infighting within the party since the announcement of the candidates, and KCR’s son and caretaker Minister KT Rama Rao has been put in charge internally to pacify all agitated leaders.

The elections for the 119-member Legislative Assembly is scheduled to be held on December 7 and the counting will take place on December 11.

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

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Telangana Budget (2019-20)