In Rs 1.8L cr budget, Punjab marks Rs 1500 crore loan waiver

Laying thrust on agriculture and education, Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government announced its maiden budget of Rs 1.18 lakh crore, setting aside Rs 1,500 crore for providing loan waiver to small and marginal waivers.

"We need to focus not on the top one per cent of the population but on rest of the 99 per cent. The budget is dedicated to those 99 per cent people," said Finance Minister Manpreet Badal as he presented the budget speech.

Criticising the previous government for leaving behind a heavy debt burden on the state, Badal said the revenue deficit for 2017-18 can only be pegged at 3.18 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and outstanding debt at the end of financial year would be Rs 1.95 lakh crore.

Highlighting that Punjab is the most debt-ridden state in the country, the government allocated Rs 1,500 crore for waiving loan of upto Rs 2 lakh of a total of 8.75 lakh for small and marginal farmers. "We need to change course from focusing on increasing productivity of farmers to directly improving livelihood of distressed farmers," said Badal, adding that as loan-waiver alone won't help the distressed farmers so the government would provide jobs to children of farmers to improve their financial situation.

With an increase of 65.7 per cent compared to last fiscal, budget allocation to agriculture was increased to Rs 10,580 crore and compensation to farmers in case of crop loss was increased to Rs 12,000 per acre.

Badal also announced Rs 10 crore to fulfill party's pre-poll promise of providing free smart phones to youth and Rs 91 crore for employment generation to fulfill its commitment to generate 1 lakh additional jobs every year.

Asserting the dire need to invest on education than building roads, bridges, canals, Badal allocated Rs 21 crore to ensure that every government primary school has furniture, Rs 10 crore for computers and Rs 5.25 crore for green boards in all government primary schools.

Allocation to health sector was increased by 14.21 per cent to Rs 1,358 crore, which included Rs 30 crore for Cancer relief Fund and Rs 50 crore for establishment of primary rural rehabilitation and drug de-addiction centres in the state.

Catering to its urban population which also constituted Congress' major vote bank, the government increased the budget allocation to local government by 103.37 per cent. With a special focus on tourism, Rs 7 crore was set aside for heritage festivals and Rs 5 crore to boost tourism in the state, marketing and promotional activities.

Terming GST as an important structural change, Badal said that he was pinning hopes on GST to help the state in rebuilding its economy.

Opposition parties protest, demand complete loan waiver.

The Opposition parties including AAP and SAD-BJP trooped into the well of the House protesting against the Captain Amarinder Singh-led government for failing to fulfill its promise of complete loan waiver. While AAP staged a walk-out, SAD continued to raise slogans against the government while the budget was being presented in the House.

"CM has backed out from its promise of announcing complete loan waiver for farmers and has decided to deceive them. With Rs 1500 crore budgetary provisions, only loan worth Rs 14,705 per farmer can be waived, and Rs 2 lakh as claimed," alleged SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal adding that party would protest to demand full loan waiver.