Haryana Budget: Major boost to health, education in state

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 28

The Haryana government on Friday presented a Rs 1.42 lakh-crore Budget for 2020-21, with a focus on education, health, agriculture and security.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the Finance Ministry portfolio, presented his maiden Budget in the State Assembly here.

Presenting the Budget estimates, Khattar said under the Mukhya Mantri Saksham Chatravriti Yojana, scholarships have been hiked and students securing more than 80 per cent marks in Class 5 will be provided Rs 6,000 in Classes 6, 7 and 8 as against Rs 1,500 earlier.

Free bicycles will be given to Dalit students of 9th and 11th classes in those villages which don’t have secondary and senior secondary schools.

In his marathon two-and-a-half-hour speech in Hindi in the state Assembly here, Khattar said the Budget has been prepared with the focus on education, health, security and self-reliance.

Highlights

*Per capita income is expected to be Rs 1.8 lakh during 2019-20 at constant prices which is an increase of 6.3%

*Rs 50 crore allocated for free coaching to soldiers and their dependents, quality education and fellowship scheme for those pursuing M Phil and PhD

*The debt to GSDP ratio has been maintained below 25 per cent as per FRBM Act

*Revenue deficit is expected to be 1.64 per cent of GSDP in 2020-21

*For Kashmiri migrants, financial help has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,250 per person

*Old-age homes will be set up in all districts

*No further hike in old-age pension announced

*5,000 EWS students of Haryana schools will be provided free coaching

*Rent based accommodations will be provided for students, senior citizens and working women

*New licence and CLU fees in Panchkula will be on par with Mohali

*Electronic ticket issuance machines, RFID-based bus passes and GPS will be implemented by September 2020

*CM specifically mentions continuation of KM scheme

*18 super luxury buses will be added by March 31 this year. In 2020-21, 867 non-AC buses will be purchased

*Cathlab, MRI and CT scan will be provided in all district hospitals. At present, these facilities are being provided in 17 districts

*15 per cent of budget is being spent on education, which is highest so far

*Class 8 will have board exam now

*1,487 senior Secondary schools where science is available will be turned into smart schools

*1,000 more bag-free schools will be opened

*At present there are only 22 such schools

*119 English medium schools will be available in 2020-21

*4,000 playway schools will be opened for children of 3-5 years

*500 new creches will be opened

*Migrant Kashmiri families will be provided Rs 1,250 per month per person in the next financial year

*In the next financial year, students of scheduled caste and backward class will be provided financial support of Rs1 lakh or 75 per cent of the tuition fees, whichever is less, for the purpose of coaching by reputed institutes

*Villages with population of more than 10,000 will be provided LED streetlight in the next financial year and Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) will be established in 150 villages

*Budget of Department of Panchayati Raj has been increased by 27 per cent. Every Zila Parishad will be provided an annual grant-in-aid of Rs 20 crore

*To provide affordable housing, a new department ‘Housing for all’ will be created to cover all the existing schemes of housing and 1 lakh houses will be provided by 2022

*Bhiwani, Narnaul, Karnal, Pinjore and Hisar airstrips will be upgraded with Rs 173 crore in the year 2020-21

*For the purpose of providing drinking water in Mewat region, Mewat Feeder Canal parallel to KMP Expressway through pipeline will be constructed to transport water from Gurugram water supply channel at an expenditure of Rs 200 crore

*To bring the waters of Ravi and Beas to Haryana and for the construction of Satluj-Yamuna Link canal, an amount of Rs 100 Crore will be spent in the next financial year

*Under Jal Jeevan Mission Scheme, government will provide drinking water connection to all households by 2022. Total outlay of Rs 1,926.45 crore has been made for implementing the scheme in 2020-21

*Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (HRIDC) with an outlay of Rs 5,600 crore has been established to complete Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor Project connecting Palwal to Sonepat via Sohna-Manesar-Kharkhoda; 150 km-long Jind-Hansi new railway line and 61 km-long Karnal-Yamunanagar railway line will be executed in the next financial year

*Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana 21,000 km roads will be upgraded during the year 2020-21. A joint venture company to provide better rail connectivity in the state

*3 new medical colleges at Yamunanagar, Kaithal and Sirsa will be established. Ventilator facilities in existing medical colleges will be increased from 190 to 400

*Facility of chemotherapy, which was not available earlier, will be made available in all district hospitals in 2020-21

*In the next fiscal year, Rs 6,533.75 crore will be spent for health sector which is an increase of 23.03 per cent over the revised estimate outlay of the last year

*Haryana achieved 2nd position with 178 medals in Khelo India Youth Games 2019. To encourage and motivate the players, the daily diet allowance will be increased from Rs 150 to Rs 200

*Under special category ‘Agriculture Dependent Activities’ the rates of electricity will be reduced from Rs 7.50 to Rs 4.75 per unit

*New scheme called Atal Bhujal Yojana is being launched in 36 water-scarcity blocks for water conservation in Haryana.

*In education, under CM Saksham Scholarship scheme, those getting 80 per cent in Class 5 will get scholarship of Rs 1,500 to Rs 6, 000 in Classes 6, 7 and 8

*Rs 22, 591 crore will go in repayments of public debt

*Social Justice and Empowerment gets a rise from Rs 8,738 crore to Rs 10, 878 crore

*Rural development gets Rs 6,294 crore while in 2019-20 Rs 5,164 crore was allocated

*Agriculture sector gets Rs 5,474 crore while education, sports and culture get Rs 19, 343 crore.

*Haryana debt is set to rise to Rs 1.98 lakh crore in 2020-21; In 2019-20, it was Rs 1.76 lakh crore

*Expenditure in 2020-21 is set to rise by 7.7 per cent to Rs 1,42,343 crore

*Haryana Revenue Receipts are expected to increase by 15.96 per cent in 2020-21 to Rs 89,964 crore