Andhra budget: Rajendranath Reddy presents YSRCP govt maiden budget

Amaravati: Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's Finance Minister, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy presented the Budget for the year 2019-20.

Here are the highlights:

• Rs 110 crore has been given for setting up labs in the districts where the quality of farm inputs will be tested.
• The Budget allocates Rs 1,280 crore for YSR Housing scheme. Rs 1,740 crore has been given for YSR Aarogyasri scheme.
• The Budget gives Rs 2,13 crore for pensions to the physically challenged, Rs 410 crore for welfare of the fishermen community and Rs 29770 crore for secondary education.
• Amaravati-Anantapur expressway project gets Rs 100 crore for and Rs 65 crore allocated social security schemes in the capital region.
• Finance Department gets nearly Rs 46,860 crore
• Rs 2,000 crore for disaster management, Rs 12,800 crore for social security pensions, Rs 1,010 crore for general administration department

More allocations

• Rs 100 crore allotted for advocates' welfare, Rs 250 crore for Kadapa steel plant and Rs 150 crore for smart cities
• Rs 11,400 crore for medical, health and family welfare; Rs 13140 crore for irrigation and Rs 455 crore for IT sector
• The State has modified crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana as YSR-PMFBY and allotted Rs 1,163 crore for it.
• Rs 100 crore for Amaravati-Anantapur expressway project and Rs 65 crore for social security schemes in the capital region
• The Budget has proposed Rs 7,270 crore for welfare of backward classes, and Rs 3,020 crore for higher education
• ‘Amma Vodi' scheme
  • Rs 6,455 crore has been allotted for ‘Amma Vodi' scheme. As per the scheme every mother who sends her child to school will get an annual financial assistance of Rs 15,000.
  • Mothers of children studying up to Intermediate classes are eligible for the scheme. Students of government schools, tribal welfare schools and private intermediate colleges will be eligible, provided they come under 'White' ration card.
• The Budget has proposed Rs 15,000 for Scheduled Castes’ sub-plan and Rs 1,077 crore for mid-day meals in schools.
• YSR Rythu Bharosa
  • YSR Rythu Bharosa that provides input assistance to farmers holding land upto five acres is a flagship scheme of the government. Rs 8,750 crore has been allotted for this scheme.
  • Rs 200 crore has been set aside for digging agricultural borewells free of cost and Rs 100 crore will be used for farm mechanisation.
  • Rs 4,525 crore has been allocated for providing nine-hour free power supply to farmers
  • In all, the agriculture sector gets Rs 18,330 crore.
• A market stabilization fund of Rs 3,000 crore will be set up. It is proposed to cover all crops irrespective of the minimum support prices.
• The Civil supplies department Home have been allotted Rs 4429 crore and Rs 7461 crore respectively.
• The Budget has allocated Rs 41 crore for encouraging inter-caste marriages.

Revival of APSRTC

• The debt-ridden Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will get Rs 1,000 crore financial assistance.Rs 500 crore has been additionally allotted to APSRTC towards the reimbursement of subsidies given by it to passengers
• The Budget has allocated Rs 574 crore for industrial incentives and Rs 250 crore for creating infrastructure in industrial estates.
• Another Rs 50 crore has given for buying new buses.
• Power sector gets Rs 6861 crore.
• Reddy said Rs 1140 crore interest-free loans will be provided to DWCRA groups. He allots Rs 700 crore for the establishment of ‘village secretariats’.
• Rs 2000 crore allotted for the welfare of Kapu community.

AgriGold scandal victims

• Rs 1,150 crore has been allocated towards the State government’s assistance to victims of AgriGold scandal.

AgriGold scandal refers to the scam that tore through the southern states and it was the collapse of a Collective Investment Scheme originating in Vijaywada that led to over three lakh customers duped.

Finance Minister Reddy is presented his first budget amounting to Rs  2,27,974 crore with a revenue expenditure Rs  1,80,475 crore, capital expenditure Rs 32,293 crore, Rs 1,778 crore revenue deficit and Rs 35,260 crore fiscal deficit; Rs 8,994 crore provided for interest payments.

Achieving Special Category Status, bringing Godavari river waters to Srisailam, and constructing steel plant at Kadapa and are among the priorities of the government, Finance Minister B Rajendranath Reddy says as he reads his maiden Budget.

State’s outstanding liabilities put at Rs 2.61 lakh crore.

Presenting a White Paper of Andhra Pradesh's economy, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said the total outstanding liabilities were Rs 2.61 lakh crore. Of this, Rs 1.97 lakh crore was public debt and the remaining Rs 63,520 crore was on public account.

Farmers welfare

Even before the Budget, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced a calamity relief fund with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore to provide compensation for the crop loss caused by drought and cyclones.

He has also announced a provision of Rs  1 crore to each MLA, irrespective of the party affiliation, for addressing the drinking water problem in their respective constituencies.