The Finance Minister of Assam, Ajanta Neog is presented the Assam Budget 2023-24 at the Assam Assembly today. It may be mentioned that this year would be the second state budget presented by Neog. Assam government presented a Rs 935.23 crore deficit budget for the 2023-24 financial year, announcing funds for promoting micro-entrepreneurship and fresh recruitments in different departments. Fresh funds have been announced for recruitment, and for promoting micro-entrepreneurship. Finance Minister Ajanta Neog presented the budget in Parliament. In the Budget speech, the minister said, “After adding the receipt of Rs 1,80,298.83 crore under the public account and Rs 2,000 crore under contingency fund, the aggregate receipts amount to Rs 3,21,742.71 crore. Taking into account the expenditure of Rs 1,79,326.48 crore under the public account and Rs 2,000 crore under contingency fund, the aggregate expenditure for the year is estimated at Rs 3,21,081.75 crore.” Neog also highlighted that the estimated transactions during the year will result in an estimated surplus of Rs 660.96 crore.
The highlights of the Assam Budget 2023-24 are as follows.
- By 2026, Assam will emerge as the hub of healthcare in Northeast India, and infrastructure is being set up accordingly.
- Schemes to be announced under Ashtadash Mukutar Unnoyonee Maala – With an intent to create self-employment in the private sector Assam Government proposes to implement a scheme to promote
- micro-entrepreneurs for creating self-employment opportunities
- among the unemployed youths belonging to BPL. families and low-income households.
- Incomegenerating activities such as Trading, Manufacturing. Service, Food Processing, Handloom, Handicraft, Agriculture and allied -Animal Husbandry, Fishery and Dairy will be supported under this scheme.
- Assam Government proposes to cover one lakh eligible beneficiaries, who will be provided with a one-time Seed Capital of 2 lakh in tranches for starting micro-enterprise units in the next three years.
- The entrepreneurs who have already availed credit linkage under SVAYEM and are continuing their activities successfully will be given preference in this scheme
- Besides this, the Assam government proposes to cover another one lakh entrepreneur-youths who will be provided project-based subsidies in defined projects, targeting the MSME and other segments.
- The total investment under this initiative, will be ₹5000 crore over the next three years with the potential to transform over two lakh unemployed youths into job creators.
- I am allocating 1000 cr in this budget to the Mukhya Mantri Sva-Niyojan Mission: Neog
- Assam government already provided employment to about 42,000 youths across various departments.
- Recruitment of another 40,000 candidates will be completed by May 10, 2023. Remaining, about 18,000 are at various stages of recruitment and this will also be completed very soon.
- Assam Government to bring legislation this year to ensure mobility of Government personnel from one department to another to ensure optimum utilization of available manpower and bring in many efficiencies in the governmental system. Though the employee will continue to be on payroll of his department, his services can be effectively utilized by others.
- Under Categories I and II of the Assam Microfinance Incentive and Relief Scheme (AFMIRS), 2021, around 10 lakh borrowers have been provided assistance worth 1,789 cr. This has also helped them in improving their creditworthiness.
- Assam Government to support the stressed and destitute women borrowers, whose accounts have become Non-Performing Assets, as of March 31, 2021.
- Assam Government will prioritize this year, those who have borrowed up to 25,000 only. This will benefit lakhs of debt- ridden women borrowers who will be able to access credit again from formal sources. Eventually, the borrowers under the loan bracket from ₹25,000 upwards will be extended the benefits, depending upon the resource position of the State.
- 7500 Crore Earmarked for this initiative by the Assam Government.
- New beneficiaries of Orunodoi are already under the DLMC scrutiny process under Orunodoi 2.0. DCs will collect the affidavits from all the new beneficiaries regarding their eligibility under the defined criterion.
- Once the entire process is completed, the addition of more than 10 lakh new beneficiaries will take the total coverage to 27.5 lakh under the scheme.
- Assam Government subsuming ‘Indira Miri Universal Widow Pension Scheme’ and ‘Deen Dayal Dibyangjan Pension Achoni’ into Orunodoi, following the principle of one family – one scheme to benefit the Antyodaya of the state.
- With this, beneficiaries of these two schemes, presently receiving 300 Rs and 1000 Rs respectively, will get 1250 From 2023-24 onwards.
- Assam Government to further enhance Orunodoi entitlement by 150, making it 1400 per beneficiary per month by the end of this financial year. 3420 crore was earmarked for this scheme.
- Based on SECC-2011 data, Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana is being implemented in Assam, under which 30 lakh families are entitled.
- In order to give 100% coverage to the National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries, the Assam government is launching Mukhya Mantri Ayushman Asom Yojana.
- It will enable 27 lakh additional families of the state to avail 5 lakh worth of cashless treatment, making it the biggest health insurance scheme in the country.
- Whereas Atal Amrit Abhiyan was giving health assurance to individual beneficiaries, Mukhya Mantri Ayushman Asom will cover the entire family. To avoid duplicity, Atal Amrit Abhiyan will be discontinued.
- A cashless card will be given to each eligible family to avail of free treatment. Till these cards are made available to all the beneficiaries, ration cards will be accepted in the empanelled hospitals to avail of the benefits. 135 crore was allocated for this scheme.
- Assam has been onboarded in the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme since June 2022.
- The Government of Assam in its Cabinet meeting held on December 7, 2022, has taken a decision to select 40 lakh new beneficiaries under NFSA and new Ration Cards will be issued accordingly. Necessary communication has already been made by the Government to the respective districts in this regard and the process of selection has already started. 3404.94 crore in the budget allocated for this.
- More than 20 lakh houses have already been geo-tagged under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), out of which 15.5 lakh households are eligible.
- Assam Government received the sanction for 3.3 lakh houses as of now from the Government of India
- In the year 2023-24, 1 lakh beneficiaries will be covered under this scheme, and 800 crore allocated towards this.
- Assam Government plans to upgrade the building infrastructure of around 500 High schools with 5 crore per school. 1 crore will be provided to 500 High Schools for furniture, smart classrooms, teaching learning 16 materials and sports infrastructure.
- Out of the target of 500 schools, 400 existing schools will be renovated and another 100 new schools will be built with state-of- the-art infrastructure as Model schools. *2500 crore was earmarked for this in the Budget.
- With a focus on improving the education infrastructure in our tea garden areas, another 100 new Tea garden High schools will be taken up this year
- To fund this, Assam Government to pool resources from various schemes; such as PM-DEVINE, RIDE, NESIDS and State Budget.
- Students securing 1st rank in class IX will be provided with tablets which will be connected with a central agency providing educational material and mentorship.
- Assam Government to provide Free Bicycle to all the students studying in Class-IX in Government and Provincialized Secondary Schools
- Providing free text-books and textbook assistance to students upto graduation
- Hostel mess dues waiver of a maximum ₹2000 per month for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in degree and polytechnic colleges
- Scooty to all meritorious boys and girls who secure first division in the higher secondary examination – Mobility grant of 10,000 per year to post-graduate students excluding medical students.
- Admission fee waiver to all BPL students
- Scholarship to students belonging to SC, ST, minority and tea- garden community
- Abhinandan Scheme – Assam Government to continue to provide interest subvention on educational loans to our students.
- Assam Government to upgrade Sibsagar college, Kokrajhar Government college, Bongaigaon college, Jagannath Barooah College in Jorhat, North Lakhimpur College, Handique Girl’s college, Nagaon College and Gurucharan college in Silchar into universities by introducing enabling legislations.
- A new University by the name of Shahid Kanaklata Barua State University will be established at Gohpur, as a tribute to the great freedom fighter of Assam and to further improve the standards of higher education in the North Bank.
- A satellite campus of Bodoland University will be established in Udalguri.
- Over and above allocation for building infrastructure, there will be a total provision of around 1200 crore under respective heads for Pragyan Bharati schemes.
- Assam Urban Health Mission (AUHM) to launch with an aim to provide affordable, accessible and quality healthcare for the urban population
- The major components of the mission will include the identification of existing gaps, area-specific and need-based interventions, and extending primary healthcare services with a strong linkage to secondary and tertiary care services.
- Mapping of all urban healthcare facilities will be done to identify the gaps. It is also proposed to add around 1000 ASHAS and set up 20 First Referral Units (FRUS) in the urban areas.
- Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) or Newborn Stabilization Unit (NBSU) will be established in each such FRUS to take special care of sick newborns and low birth weight babies.
- Focus will be also given to upgrading obstetric facilities at the secondary level. Immunization and free diagnostic facilities will be strengthened. Services related to non-communicable diseases will be strengthened with a focus on screening and Continuum of Care (CoC).
- The proposed mission is to ensure easier access to healthcare services and early detection, effectively reducing out-of-pocket expenditure for the urban population and preventing the urban poor from entering into debt traps due to unforeseen healthcare expenditures.
- Roadshows in major cities across the country as well as abroad to promote Assam Tea as a brand and showcase the rich socio- cultural heritage of tea garden communities to celebrate 200 years of Assam tea.
- The potential of tea garden land has been unlocked and shall be used for agriculture and allied activities: Neog
- Assam Tea Industries Special Incentives Scheme (ATISIS), 2020 will be further strengthened to incentivize the production of orthodox tea and speciality tea in Assam.
- Increase in the production subsidy for orthodox and speciality 19 tea from 7 to 10 per kg is already under process.
- For the current year of 2023-24 only, an enhanced production subsidy of 12 per kg will be extended. 100 crore has been earmarked for this scheme.
- Tax holiday extended on Agricultural Income Tax for a period of the next three years.
- The emphasis will be given on the infrastructure development of tea garden labour lines, especially the development of roads.
- This year, as a special relief, all the arrear electricity dues of tea garden worker families living in the lines will be waived off as a one-time measure by the Government. I will earmark 150 cr for the same.
- Under the “Wage Compensation Scheme for Pregnant Women of Tea Garden Areas of Assam”, the compensation amount will be enhanced to ₹15,000 from the existing 12,000.
- For the construction of 500 Mahaprabhu Jagannath Community Hall cum Skill Centres in the prominent localities of tea gardens, our government has already made a provision for ₹200 crore in this year’s budget.
- Under Mukhya Mantri Awaas Yojana, 10,000 houses will be constructed in Tea Garden labour lines only.
- Assam Government to continue supporting Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL) against the payment of outstanding liabilities of interest on Provident Fund in a phased manner. 100 crore was allocated for this year.
- Tea garden and Adivasi community will be recognised as separate sub-categories within OBC. Around 3% of reservations into Government jobs, within the OBC quota, will be considered for them, subject to fulfilling legal stipulations in this regard.
- In this financial year, under Assam Darshan scheme, Assam Government proposed to cover 8000 new Namghars. The government also proposed to cover within it, religious institutions having higher tourist footfalls and where common festivals are celebrated. *2.5 lakh of fund per institution will be provided.
- Further, under the revamped Assam Darshan scheme an amount of 15 lakh each will be provided for ancient religious institutions- Namghar, Mandir, Mosque, Church, Gurudwara which are more than 100 years old. 180 crore has been allocated for this scheme. Earlier, 10 lakh was provided to 130 such institutions each.
- Drawing inspiration from Kashi-Vishwanath Corridor, Assam Government seeks to develop Kamakhya Corridor to ease the movement of devotees and enhance the ambience by connecting it with the Brahmaputra river.
- With a view to relive the historical glory of Rang Ghar, Assam Government is taking up the development of tourist amenities in an area of 83 Bigha in the vicinity of Rang Ghar. The activity areas will be constructed without jeopardising the norms of the Archaeological Survey of India. Already around 32 cr has been released towards payment for land acquisition. The work will be started from April 2023 at a cost of 107 crore.
- To promote the research and documentation related to the ideals of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardev, a Chair to be established at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
- The government plans to organize “Khel Maharan” in line with “Khel Mahakumbh” of Gujarat. This mega sports event is a step towards mobilizing people at the grassroots level, creating an inclusive environment for identifying talent. Competitions will be conducted starting from the revenue village level to Block, further to District and finally at the State level. Five sports disciplines have been identified for the event. Towards this, every revenue village will be given 10,000 this year.
- “Sanskritik Mahasangram”. to be launched. Under this scheme, every revenue village will organize competitions in six categories namely, Jyoti Sangeet, Rabha Sangeet, Bhupendra Sangeet, Rabindra Sangeet, one tribal Dance and Bihu. Subsequently, the winners of these competitions in the villages will compete amongst themselves at the block and district levels, which will culminate in a competition at the state level. Towards this, every revenue village will be given 10,000 this year.
- 60 Crore allocated to “Khel Maharan” and “Sanskritik Mahasangram.
- Work on Guwahati- North Guwahati bridge is progressing fast and Preparations for Palashbari Sualkuchi bridge, Majuli bridge, Pagladiya bridge, Lakhimpur-Ghunasuti bridge are on track.
- Government will provide connectivity to eligible unconnected habitations or habitations connected with totally dilapidated existing roads through 2000 new roads of 3000 Km.
- “Apun Bahan” scheme to be introduced where government employees can avail of 2% interest subvention to avail a motor vehicle loan. This will be enhanced to 3% for women and divyangjan employees. I propose an amount of 12 crore for this scheme.
- Kaziranga elevated corridor is in its final stage of sanctioning and in the process for wildlife clearances.
- 15,102 crore in total, under various heads for the development of Infrastructure in form of Roads and Buildings under Public Works Departments.
- Most Outstanding District Initiative will be awarded 100 crore towards its infrastructure development and the fund will be placed at the disposal of the Deputy Commissioner.
- 3500 crore allocated for the – Cabinet outreach programme this year.
Child Budget
- Child Budget Statement is a segregation of specifi c allocations targeted for children from the overall budgets of the departments. It captures budgetary provisions for all those programmes and schemes that are meant exclusively or largely for the welfare of children. This not only facilitates better monitoring of institutions/ schemes /programmes that have signifi cant direct benefi ts for children but would also strengthen departments’ accountability towards the budgetary commitments for them.
Divyang Budget
- Divyang Budget Statement displays specifi c allocations meant for divyangjans from the overall budgets of the departments. It captures budgetary provisions for all those programmes and schemes that are meant exclusively or largely for the welfare of divyangjans. It includes divyang-focused budgetary provisions under both “Schemes Expenditure” (erstwhile Plan expenditure) and “Establishment and Committed Expenditure” (erstwhile Non-plan expenditure) heads.