The Haryana government on Tuesday presented a tax-free budget for 2022-23 with an outlay of ₹1,77,255.99 crore, an increase of 15.6% compared to the previous year.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal, who also holds the portfolio of Finance, said the budget was focused on giving impetus to the post-COVID economy in the State.
The budget outlay comprises 34.4% as capital expenditure of ₹61,057.36 crore and 65.6% as revenue expenditure of ₹1,16,198.63 crore. The total revenue receipts are projected at ₹1,06,424.70 crore, which comprise tax revenue of ₹73,727.50 crore, non-tax revenue of ₹12,205.36 crore, the share of Central taxes at ₹8,925.98 crore, and grants-in-aid of ₹11,565.86 crore. Besides this, capital receipts are projected to be ₹5,393.89 crore.
Debt liability may go up
As per the budget estimates, the debt liability is likely to go up to ₹2,43,779 crore in 2022-23, from ₹2,23,768 crore as of March 2022, constituting 24.52% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP), which is below the stipulated limit of 33.3% of GSDP recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission.
Mr. Lal said counter-cyclical fiscal measures had been taken to give impetus to the post-COVID economy. “At present, the contribution of Haryana to the country’s economy is 3.4%, while concrete efforts would be made to take this percentage to 4% so as to ensure Haryana’s pivotal contribution in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 5 trillion-dollar economy target. The strategy for a resilient Haryana is crafted predominantly based on prioritisation of three key objectives — the welfare of the poorest of the poor in the spirit of ‘Antyodaya’, increased productivity with effective income redistribution strategies and creation of opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship,” he said.
“The budget is in the direction of improving the system. Instead of offering freebies to the eligible persons, emphasis will be given towards making them Atmanirbhar,” the Chief Minister said.
‘Sushma Swaraj Award’
Mr. Lal said his government was sincerely working in the direction of women’s empowerment. He said the late Sushma Swaraj, a daughter of Haryana, was an inspiration to all women in India, hence a State Award — The ‘Sushma Swaraj Award’ — was being started to award those women from Haryana who had made significant contributions or remarkable achievements in different walks of life in the national and international sphere. The award would carry commendation with a prize of ₹5 lakh. He also announced to increase the participation of women in the panchayati raj Institutions to 50% seats instead of 33% seats reserved for women. To attract women towards entrepreneurship, a new scheme, ‘Haryana Mukhyamantri Udyami Yojana’ was also announced by the Chief Minister.
A big disappointment: Opposition
The Opposition termed the budget a big disappointment and directionless. Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the government was following the policy of ‘run ahead, leave behind’ as the budget first showed inflated numbers but these were later revised and reduced. “The government has cut economic progress and infrastructure budget by 3% even at a time of record unemployment. Not only this, the amount of debt on the State has increased to about ₹2.5 lakh crore which means that the expenditure on loan repayment has increased in this budget compared to last year,” he said.
Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja said the people of the State had not got anything in the budget for which the alliance government could be praised. “Tall claims were made while presenting the budget, but most of the old schemes had been reintroduced in a new style to loot applause,” he said.
