Eatala presents Rs. 1.30 lakh Cr budget for Telangana

Finance Minister Eatala Rajender on Monday presented a budget of Rs. 130,415.87 Crore budget for Telangana State for the financial year 2016-17.

Of Rs. Rs. 130,415.87 Cr expenditure, Rs. 62,785.14 Cr will be under Non-Plan and Rs. 67,630.73 Cr under Plan Expenditure. "This is unprecedented as the proposed expenditure under Plan is higher than under Non-Plan. This has been done without compromising on non-plan commitments by a combination of rationalisation of expenditure and resource augmentation," Eatala said while presenting the budget in the Telangana State Legislative Assembly.

The Telangana State's own revenue receipts are proposed at Rs. 72,412.23 Cr in 2016-17 as compared with Rs. 54,256.71 Cr in RE 2015-16. Transfers from Centre proposed in the BE 2016-17 ARE Rs. 28,152.52 Cr as compared with Rs. 25,223.49 Cr in 2015-16. "The budget estimates for 2016-17 indicate a Revenue Surplus of Rs. 3,718.37 crore and a Fiscal Deficit of Rs. 23,467.29 Cr, which is 3.5% of estimated GSDP. The higher revenue surplus is entirely on account of the proposed allocation of Rs. 25,000 crore to the irrigation sector, which is mostly capital," he said.

The major allocations made in the budget are: Agriculture and Cooperation - Rs. 6400.81 Cr; Backward Classes Welfare - Rs. 2537.51 Cr; Women's and Child Welfare - Rs. 1552.58 Cr; Energy - Rs. 5341.46 Cr; Food & Civil Supplies - Rs. 2312.87 Cr; Medical & Health - Rs. 5966.89 Cr; Higher Education - Rs. 2164  Cr; Housing - Rs. 860.37 Cr; Irrigation & CAD - Rs. 26,652.35 Cr; Minorities Welfare - Rs. 1204.44 Cr; Municipal Administration & Urban Development - Rs. 4815.44 Cr; Panchayat Raj & Rural Development - Rs. 10,730.70 Cr; Scheduled Caste Department - Rs. 7122.21 Cr; Secondary Education - Rs. 8574.64 Cr and Tribal Welfare - Rs. 3752.37 Cr.

"The provisions proposed next year and provisions for this year are not strictly comparable department-wise for two reasons. As part of the rationalisation of expenditure, a number of plan schemes with similar activities have been clubbed together in a number of departments and a few schemes with only a salary expenditure have been shifted to non-plan from plan. Secondly, 'Mission Bhagiratha' and Two-bed room housing are proposed to be funded entirely from budgetary resources. Therefore, no provisions have been made under the Plan for these schemes, except the provisions required for counterpart funding," the Finance Minister said.

Eatala described this budget as a combination of statesmanship of Kautilya, the vision of Emperor Ashok and the common sense of an ordinary housewife in running her household. "Telangana remained a caged Tiger till 2nd June, 2014. Now that the State is free of all shackles, it is poised to emerge as one of the fastest growing and welfare States in the country," he said.