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At a time when populist budgets and announcements have become the order of the day for poll bound states, Rajasthan seems to be no exception.
Triggering a nationwide debate, the Rajasthan government has announced a pension plan for the state government employees who joined on or after January 1, 2004. Similarly, be it power or other segments, there are freebies for all and thus the budget is being referred to as a "populist budget" -- which is set to increase the debt on an already debt-ridden state. However, Principal Secretary Finance Akhil Arora in an e-interview with IANS, said, "It is not appropriate to call people-friendly schemes as populist schemes in a budget." "Even in challenging situations, special provisions have been made by the state government to uplift different segments by bringing in English medium schools. Our government has launched the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme for urban unemployed. Also we have launched Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana so that people can get health benefits. We have also launched the Agriculture Budget for the first time for farmers," he asserted. "This budget will provide economic and social support to the poor, helpless and marginalised sections of the society. At the same time, it will increase their net disposable income, thereby increasing the size of the economy due to the multiplier effect on the overall state economy. Therefore, it is not appropriate to call such schemes as populist schemes," the Principal Secretary added. When asked if these "populist schemes and publicity campaigns" will affect the financial viability of the state exchequer, Arora said, "Due to these schemes, necessary provisions have been made for all sections in this budget to overcome the decrease in the income of other sections of the society especially for the weaker sections, including the helpless, destitute, street vendors etc. Instead of populist schemes in this budget, efforts have been made for the upliftment of the marginalised sections of the society." "In this budget, more provision has been made in every sector like education, health, rural development and energy so that economic development can be accelerated," he added. In FY21, Rajasthan's indebtedness increased with total liabilities rising 7.2 percentage points in a year to 42.6 per cent. The state had almost halved its debt-GDP ratio to 24 per cent in FY15 from about 47 per cent in FY05. What are the reasons for this state of finances? Responding to this, Arora said, "In Rajasthan, loans and other liabilities for the year 2020-21 were 40.51 per cent of GSDP, while that of the Centre was 61.17 per cent of GDP." He attributed the major reasons for high debt to the UDAY scheme and COVID. "Meanwhile, with these schemes, we are confident that the economy will boost with a multiplier effect as net disposable incomes will rise," he added. --IANS arc/shs/bg ( 486 Words) 2022-03-15-19:50:03 (IANS)
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