Free Class 9-12 education, SYL fund, 8 medical colleges in Haryana Budget

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12

Recovering from a Covid-hit financial year, the Haryana Government today presented a Rs 1.56 lakh crore Budget for the 2021-22 fiscal with health, agriculture and infrastructure as key priority areas to revitalise the state economy.

• Also read: GSDP shrinks by 5.7% in Covid year in Haryana
• Outlay for agriculture, allied sectors up 21%

While no new taxes were announced, the key takeaways comprised free education for Class 9-12 students in government schools, Rs 100 crore for the SYL canal and eight new medical colleges.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented his second Budget in the Assembly here.

Khattar proposed a Budget of Rs 1,55,645 crore, which was 13 per cent more than the last fiscal’s Rs 1,37,738 crore. The outlay comprises 25 per cent (Rs 38,718 crore) as capital expenditure of and 75 per cent (Rs 1,16,927 crore) as revenue expenditure.

The revenue deficit is estimated to be at Rs 29,193 crore (about 3.29 per cent of GSDP) compared to Rs 20,856 crore in the current fiscal. The government said the deficit would be met through borrowings.

The CM announced the establishment of a reserve fund of Rs 8,585 crore as medium term expenditure framework (MTEF). Since strengthening the state economy through capital investment is the prime focus, the fund would be spent on projects of key sectors that have long gestation period and inter-sectoral implications.

In the backdrop of the ongoing farmers’ protests against the Centre’s farm laws, Khattar said his government needed to continue assistance to farmers for paving the way for Haryana’s economic growth. The outlay of Rs 6,110 crore for 2021-22 indicates an increase of 20.9 per cent against the last fiscal’s Rs 5,052 crore. “We are indebted to our farmers, whose toil and hard work has made Haryana the food bowl of the country. We are committed to doubling farmers’ income,” he said.

Making special mention of the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal, Khattar announced an allocation of Rs 100 crore. In his speech that went on for over 2.5 hours, he announced the launch of the Mukhyamantri Antyodya Parivar Utthan Abhiyan to identify the poorest one lakh familes and uplift their standard to reach a minimum income threshold of Rs 1.80 lakh per annum.

The CM announced hike in old age pension from Rs 2,250 to Rs 2,500 per month from April 1, insurance through an umbrella scheme for providing compensation in case of death due to accident or any untoward incident among others.

In a novel initiative, Haryana will roll out a “KG to PG” programme whereby a child can avail education from nursery to post-graduation in a single institution. This system will be launched from Kurukshetra University and MDU, Rohtak. Also, students of Class 9 to 12 will be provided free education in government schools.

New medical colleges in Jind, Kaithal, Yamunanagr, Faridabad, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh and Sirsa, a dental college at the hospital in Nuh, increasing the bed-strength in government hospitals from 100 to 200, developing Pinjore and Gurugram as film shooting locations are among other initiative on the cards for the coming year.

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