Haryana Budget 2019: Govt proposes no new taxes, tries to woo farmers with welfare schemes ahead of elections

Haryana finance minister Captain Abhimanyu on Monday presented Rs 1.34 lakh-crore Budget for the financial year 2019-20 in the state assembly. The Budget has no new tax proposal. The Budget registered an increase of 14.73 percent over the previous year’s estimates of Rs 1.15 lakh crore. This is the last Budget of the current Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana. The finance minister announced new schemes to provide financial relief and security cover to families of farmers who possess land up to five acres. Besides this, workers in unorganised sectors with an income below Rs 15,000 per month will also get the benefit of these schemes, said a report in The Times of India. The government has earmarked Rs 1,500 crore for these schemes in the budget, the report said. [caption id=“attachment_2987068” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. News 18[/caption] In order to woo the sugarcane growers, the government has announced Rs 340 per quintal for sugarcane this year, which is reportedly the highest in the country. For the first time, a subsidy of Rs 16 per quintal was given to facilitate the payment of sugarcane arrears to the farmers during 2017-18, said a report in The Indian Express. Claiming that the government successfully implemented the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Abhimanyu said that Rs 406.27 crore premium was collected from the farmers and Rs 1,140.98 crore had been distributed back to them as compensation in the last three years, which is more than the premium of Rs 818.20 crores paid to the insurance companies, said the report. He said that for the socio-economic security of the livestock owners of the state, Pandit Deen Dayal Uppadhaya Livestock Insurance scheme was launched in 2018-19. The state government aims to double the area under horticulture from the present 8.17 percent to 15 percent and triple the produce in the state by 2030 under the ‘Horticulture Vision’, the finance minister said. The government has allocated Rs 12,989 crore for power sector and Rs 12,307 crore elementary and secondary education, he said. Similarly, the government has earmarked Rs 3,324.51 crore for irrigation and water resources, Rs 3,984.95 crore for urban local bodies and Rs 5,194.26 crore for development and panchayats.