People's Democracy

         Tax-Free Tripura Budget

CALLING for a stable structure of equitable centre-state fiscal relation with a view to keeping afloat the development and welfare programmes at the vital priority sectors of the state government, finance minister Badal Chowdhury tabled yesterday at the state Assembly a 3182.93 crore tax-free full-fledged annual budget. It has laid down utmost stress on education, health-care, rural development, power, road communication, small-scale industries, agriculture, irrigation, literacy, drinking water, sanitation and self-help programmes.

Due to the parliamentary polls at the beginning of the current financial year, a vote-on-account for a period of four months had earlier been passed in the assembly. But although the full-fledged budget was tabled in the assembly yesterday at the opening of its budget session, the central planning commission has not yet finalised the annual plan allocation for the state. Besides, the centre has left outstanding an amount of Rs 75 crore towards the gap grant due to the state government for fiscal 2002-2003 and has also released Rs 97 crore less than the share of central taxes due to Tripura.

Under the circumstances finance minister Badal Chowdhury has expressed the hope in his budget speech that the amount of Rs 85.75 crore shown as deficit in this budget will be neutralised at the end of the financial year through specific measures like increasing the state’s own revenue collection as also the centre’s plan assistance, the austerity measures and efficiency of monetary management.

As the size of the budget tabled yesterday is Rs 174.5 crore bigger than that of the preceding financial year, it envisages the Rs 225 crore worth of gap grant due from the centre and the receipt of additional loan from the money market. The general assistance has been envisaged in this budget as Rs 570 crore against Rs 555 crore in the preceding year, although, according to the state’s finance commissioner, the state government will put pressure for a still further hike during its session with the planning commission. Despite the severe set backs like the liberalisation policy and deprivation of the state by the erstwhile government at the centre, no tax has been proposed in this budget. Portraying the picture of such deprivation in all sectors of Tripura, finance minister Badal Chowdhury pointed out in his budget speech that the state as received Rs 306.71 crore less than the amount finalised by the Eleventh Finance Commission even in the span of the first four years of its tenure.

In the budget proposal of the year 2004-05, demand has been made for the centre to defray 100 per cent of the expenditure of the state police towards combating insurgency. With 16.32 per cent allocation, education has been accorded the utmost importance in this budget, followed by PWD with 12 per cent allocation, power 8 per cent, rural development 3.68 per cent, Health & Family Welfare 3.79 per cent, Agriculture 2.53 per cent, Tribal Welfare 2.42 per cent, and other sectors 14.78 per cent. The allocation for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC) has been increased Rs 3.33 crore over that of the preceding year.

Badal Chowdhury put up a strong plea in his budget speech for a well thought out plan for action aimed at the fiscal stability of the state to tide over its acute financial crisis brought about by the centre’s discriminatory attitude and certain matters beyond the state’s control. However, all out endeavour will be made by the state government to increase its own revenue collection as also austerity measures without of course, causing in any way strain on the poor and weaker sections of society or compromising on the state government’s activities in the priority sectors including the ongoing programmes like irrigation, housing, literacy, drinking water, sanitation, self-help programmes with stress on the time-bound development of scheduled castes and tribes and other backward and weaker sections of the state populace. (INN)