Eye on polls: Govt tries to appease all

WITH AN eye on the Assembly elections later this year, the Gujarat government Tuesday presented a “populist” budget with welfare measures for all segments of society and no new taxes. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also handles Finance portfolio, presented the annual budget of the Gujarat government for 2017-18 on Tuesday.

The budget attempts to appease every section of the society. Its populist announcement includes giving tablets to around 3.50 lakh Class 12 students who willgotocollegeslaterthisyearat a token price of Rs 1,000 each. The subsidyonthetabletswillcostthe governmentaroundrs200crore.

The total size of the revenue surplus budget is Rs 1,72,179.24 crore, which is more than the last budget by Rs 20,327.31 crore. And the government has based the budget on the theme of “Optimise inclusive development of human resources and trunk infrastructure through effective and transparent implementation”.

In health sector, the government increased the scope of Mavatsalyaschemebyincreasingthe annualincomeoftheeligiblefamilies from Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.

For farmers, the government has announced to increase financial assistance for micro irrigation to farmers from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the cost. For farmers of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, it has been increased from 75 per cent to 80 per cent.