Opposition UDF asks how is Kerala a 'sunrise' economy when it has thousands of crores welfare arrears.
Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal. (Twitter)
The Congress-led UDF opposition on Wednesday, 14 February, asked in the Assembly how Kerala could be called a “sunrise” economy as claimed in the state Budget for 2024-25 when the government is yet to clear tens of thousands of rupees in arrears under various welfare schemes.
Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly VD Satheesan criticised the Budget for “lacking credibility”, stating that the fiscal indicators allegedly reveal that the revenue deficit is on the increase while capital expenditure is going down.
He further claimed that the tax revenue, including from GST, has not been increasing. He went on to say that tax is not even being collected, turning the state into a haven for tax evasion.
Refuting the allegations of the opposition leader, state Finance Minister KN Balagopal said that when compared with the Union budget, the state’s was better.
He claimed that Kerala has been progressing in many sectors despite the financial crisis caused by the Centre cutting down its allocations, grants and borrowing limits to “financially choke” the state.
Balagopal also said that the state’s expenditure has increased over the last few years and that its revenue from tax collection has also gone up.
Satheesan, while opposing the state budget, also pointed to the thousands of crores in arrears due to Supplyco (the state civil supplies corporation) as well as under the Karunya Insurance scheme, social security schemes and pensions and DA for government employees.
“So where did the social welfare schemes of the sunrise economy go?” he asked.
In response to jibes about the government not raising the social welfare pension amount, the state finance minister said the decision to not increase the amount was taken, as its priority is to pay the over 62 lakh beneficiaries promptly.
“We can always increase it anytime by way of an administrative action,” he added.
The minister said that the government intends to pay what it has promised and will not go back on that.
Balagopal also made some new announcements during the discussion on the Budget.
The latest announcements included increasing the budget allocation for the public distribution system to ₹2,001 crore, raising the allocation for agricultural labourers’ welfare fund to ₹120 crore, and earmarking ₹1,000 crore to implement proposals raised during the Nava Kerala Sadas outreach programme undertaken at the end of last year by the state government.
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