KCR readies populist budget

Hyderabad:  Aiming to appease all sections of the people in the election year of 2019, the Telangana government is set to present a ‘populist’ budget in the Assembly on Thursday. The total budget outlay will be up to Rs 1.80 lakh crore.  Perhaps, this will be the last full budget to be presented by the government before the next Assembly elections.   

A day before the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Eatala Rajender, the Telangana Cabinet ratified the budget proposals  in the meeting presided over by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragati  Bhavan in the city. Officials said that the allocations for welfare programmes will be increased by 20 to 30 per cent compared to 2017-18 financial year. 

The total budget outlay in the existing financial year was Rs 1.49 lakh crore.  Ever since the Telangana state was formed in 2014, the total budget outlay has been increasing by 15 per cent every financial year.
 
Since the state depends on borrowings to meet the financial exigencies, the debt burden will be crossed Rs 1 lakh crore  on the state as the government is planning to seek more funds  from the financial institutions through the corporations. 

Officials said the Finance Minister is also likely to announce a few new welfare schemes targeting the weaker sections, farmers, women and youth communities in the proposals.
  
The Chief Minister has already announced ‘Rythu Laxmi’ (crop investment scheme) and ‘Rythanna Bheema’ (farmers’ health insurance) schemes for the farming community. Rs 11,000 crore will be allotted for the crop investment scheme.   

After welfare, the government will earmark more funds to the irrigation sector to complete the majority of the ongoing and pending projects by this year end.  Medical and Health, Education and Municipal Administration and Urban Development departments will also get substantial funds in the new financial year.