Supplementary Grants passed; Cong tears apart Budget speech
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, February 08 2021: The State Assembly held the general discussion on the Budget Estimates, 2021-22 today and also discussed and voted on the Demands for Supplemen-tary Grants, 2020-21 .

The Budget 2021-22 was presented by Finance Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Yumnam Joykumar on February 5.On the Assembly floor today, he said that the Budget is a guideline that will pave the direction for development in the State.

During the discussion on the Budget estimate, Y Joykumar said the budget speech had touched almost all sectors and the Government welcomes all suggestions.

On Opposition's claim that the Budget was unrealistic and visionless, Joykumar said the Budget was devised following the 'present trend' with a vision.

He said improving State's economy doesn't solely depend on the Finance Department.

As Manipur is an agrarian economy, agriculture and allied activities have to be enhanced.

Agriculture, horticulture, water resources and other related industries need to be improved.

The COVID-19 pandemic had shut all economic activities, but they have been gradually brought back as the (COVID) situation has improved, he said.

Further, to enhance agriculture and allied activities, the Government has started working on an irrigation project that would enable farmers to adopt double cropping in a year.

Tube wells will be dug to give farmers easy access to irrigation water under the project, he added.

Responding to the claims raised by the Opposition Members, he said a dedicated Hill Area Develop- ment Fund has been established to bring development in the hill districts.

On employment, he said more than half of the earmarked funds for Start-Up Scheme have not been spent due to limited number of applicants/start-ups.

In the earlier years, the funds for the Start-Up were sanctioned twice a year, but now the Government is not able to spend half of the first sanctioned amount.

Returnees/youths who left jobs due to COVID-19 may avail the benefits of the Start-Up Scheme, Joykumar said.

On Government recruitment, he said the elected Members should work collectively to bring transparency in the recruitment processes and gain the confidence of the people.

On environment related queries, Joykumar said the State is not yet facing serious problems due to climate change.

During the discussion, Opposition MLA K Meghachandra had claimed that there have been no positive changes in the Finance Department.

While the previous Commission had recommended States be given 42% of all taxes, the 15th Finance Commission (2020-21) has recommended a devolution which is one percent less than the previous recommendation, meaning States will be given 41% of the taxes, he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic had brought back about 40,000 youths to the State who are mostly unemployed now.

However, due to poor financial state, the Government is not able to give jobs to these youths.

Above this, the Government lacks interest in generating employment and the Budget speech failed to give importance to the unemployed youths, he said.

Meghachandra also claimed that even though the Budget estimate mentions some crore of rupees for agriculture sector, it (Budget) lacks proper policy.

Apart from some Central schemes, the Budget did not mention any State schemes, he added.

While talking about the Budget, Opposition Member K Govindas said the Budget lacks vision and neglects the environment.

The Budget lacks measures and policies to mitigate climate change.

It also doesn't have rehabilitation packages for the returnees.

There is no provision to form a Grade-III and IV Recruitment Board or Commission to check corruption.

While criticising the Budget, K Govindas also called on the Members to bring about a political reform to bring development in the State.

Surjakumar Okram also claimed that the Budget was unrealistic and added that the Government should have consulted experts before presenting it in the House.

Today, the House passed Demands for Supplementary Grants 2020-21 amounting to Rs 3177,24,35,119 and also passed the Manipur Appropriation (No 1) Bill, 2021 (Bill No 10 of 2021) and the Manipur Appropriation (No 3) Bill, 2021 (Bill No 12 of 2021) .

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