In an apparent bid to woo the rural electorate ahead of the panchayat elections in February, finance minister Prafulla Ghadei on Monday presented the first supplementary budget 2011-12 worth Rs 4724.62 crore with focus on funding different welfare schemes targeting the village voter.
Ghadei said emphasis has been laid on funding schemes like Mamata, a conditional electronic cash transfer programme for benefit of pregnant women in the state, which has got Rs 70 crore; Ama Jungle Yojana (Rs 10 crore); conversion of short term into medium term loans of farmers affected due to drought and unseasonal rains (Rs 150 crore); interest subsidy relating to conversion of short term to medium term loans for farmers in drought and unseasonal rains (Rs 52.52 crore) and Rs 5,000 assistance to each youth clubs (Rs five crore).
The FM said the supplementary budget, which includes Rs 1,801 crore in the plan and Rs 2377 crore in the non-plan heads, shall be funded through such sources as an estimated Rs 792 crore additional receipts from central share of taxes; Rs 450 crore from own tax and non-tax revenue; Rs 804 crore from surrender by different departments and Rs 700 from the National Disaster Response Fund.
It may be mentioned that in 2010-11, the first supplementary budget was worth Rs 2906.70 crore. The annual budget 2011-12 has estimated an expenditure of Rs 46047.75 crore.
Ghadei told mediapersons that till October-end the state government had achieved Rs 9819 crore (61 per cent) of its targeted revenue collection of 16,104 crore from its own tax and non-tax revenue. "We are hoping to exceed our target by Rs 450 crore," he added.
Further, the FM said the expenditure trend was encouraging and 45 per cent of the plan and non-plan budgets had been spent by October-end.
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