Populist plans not backed by matching allocation of funds
SCHEMES CLUBBED 70% of state’s population brought under ₹5-lakh health cover
CHANDIGARH: With the Lok Sabha polls in mind, finance minister Manpreet Badal, on Monday, made some ‘populist’ announcements in social sectors including in health, education and technical education.
He announced three new medical colleges in Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Sangrur under the Public-private Participation (PPP) mode. However, no provision of funds for these was mentioned in the budget speech.
A medical college announced in this government’s first budget in 2017, at Mohali, is yet to start.
The budget has provided ₹190 crore for upgrade of Government Medical Colleges in Patiala and Amritsar. An outlay of ₹3,456 crore has been provided for primary and secondary health care services in 2019-20 which the budget speech claimed is with an increase of around 11% over the previous year.
The National Health Mission outlay has also been increased to ₹979 crore from ₹776 crore last year (up 26%).
The government has allocated ₹250 crore for ‘Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana, which the government has clubbed with the Centre’s Ayushmaan Bharat Scheme to bring nearly 70% of the total population of Punjab (nearly 42 lakh families) under cover of ₹5 lakh per annum per family.
10 NEW COLLEGES ANNOUNCED
Ten new colleges have been announced at Bhucho, Baluana, Dharamkot, Chabbewal, Dasuya, Samrala, Nabha and SAS Nagar, Malout and Khem Karan for which a provision of ₹50 crore has been made or ₹5 crore per college.
The budget claims that in addition to the 2,387 ‘English medium’ already being run, 2,010 more schools will be upgraded. For setting up of smart schools, ₹25 crore has been allocated .
On higher education, the finance minister said as a result of his government’s efforts, the Gross Enrolment Ratio has improved in Punjab from 28.6 in 2016-17 to 30.3 in 2017-18. The government’s target is 32 till 2022.
A new Open University at Patiala will be started, says the budget, proposing an allocation of ₹5 crore for this university.
A special assistance of ₹50 crore has been provided for Punjabi University, Patiala, to promote research, innovation and quality improvement.
FOUR LABS TO ENABLE OVERSEAS PLACEMENT
To enable overseas placement and improve communication skills, four laboratories have been proposed in Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda and Jalandhar with an annual capacity of 100 candidates at each lab.
The British Council has proposed these laboratories, said the finance minister.
A ‘Centre of Excellence’ has been announced for skilling trainers of technical education, while laying emphasis on imparting training to SC/ST, women and people with disabilities under the scheme, ‘Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion’ (SANKLAP).
Fifteen new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIS) have been proposed at Rampura-phull, Raikot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Bassi Pathana, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Shuttrana, Amargarh and Tarn Taran. ITI at Ropar will be upgraded.
A total of ₹15 crore have been allocated; this translates into₹1 crore per ITI.
The government has also announced the setting up of a residential school in Ludhiana up to Class 12 for children having disabilities for which ₹15 crore has been earmarked.
No funds have been earmarked for women safety, though financial minister Manpreet Singh Badal expressed concern over the issue.