Friday, February 5, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Maya presents tax-free budget

http://www.asianage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1217:maya-presents-tax-free-budget&catid=35:india&Itemid=60

Maya presents tax-free budget

Thursday, 04 February 2010 21:25
Lucknow, Feb. 4: The Mayawati government, on Thursday, presented a
tax-free Budget with a deficit of Rs 9022.11 crores in the state
Assembly.

The budget, presented by finance minister Lalji Varma, stands at Rs
1,53,999 crores and is 14.7 per cent bigger than previous year's
budget.

The most significant part of the budget is that it has no provision
for chief minister Mayawati's dream projects — the various parks,
memorials and statues — being constructed in the state capital.

Ms Mayawati had already mentioned earlier in the state Assembly that
there would be no budgetary provisions for her dream projects in the
budget. However, in the supplementary budget grants, the state
government has set aside a token amount of Rs 1,000 for maintenance
and upkeep of the memorials.

The budget, significantly, violates the Financial Responsibility and
Budgetary Management Act (FRBM), passed in 2004 that makes it
mandatory for the state government to reach the zero-deficit target by
2010.

The budget, however, follows the chief minister's dalit agenda and a
sum of Rs 9,099.75 has been set aside under the Special Component Plan
for dalit welfare.

For the Shakuntala Misra Rehabilitation University, the state has set
aside a sum of Rs 93.81 crores. The university has been built in
Lucknow in memory of the mother of BSP leader Satish Chandra Misra.

For the three-tiered panchayat elections, scheduled to be held later
this year, the state government has earmarked a sum of Rs 406.40
crores while a sum of Rs 289.39 has been set aside for the census that
is scheduled to take place next year.

Budgetary sanctions running into hundreds of crore have been marked
out for various welfare schemes like the Mahamaya Garib Arthik Madad
Yojana and Savitribai Phule Balika Shiksha Madad Yojana.

Later, talking to reporters, finance minister Lalji Varma said that
the state had failed to reach the zero deficit target due to global
recession and economic slowdown.

He said that the state government would inculcate greater fiscal
discipline in the new financial year to reduce the deficit. Meanwhile,
the Opposition criticised the state budget and termed it as
directionless. Pramod Tiwari of the Congress termed the budget as
"distressing and depressing" while Hukum Singh of BJP said that the
budget was "irrelevant and boring and had nothing to look forward to".

Shivpal Singh Yadav said that the Budget indicated a total lack of
fiscal discipline in the state government.

Amita Verma


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