Khattar presents Rs 1.42 lakh cr budget, hikes student scholarship

Haryana extends lockdown statewide

Chandigarh:Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday announced that students securing more than 80 per cent marks in Class 5 would be provided enhanced scholarship of Rs 6,000, and that three more medical colleges would come up in the state.

In his maiden budget that he presented on a tablet device that legislators accessed online, Khattar announced a Rs 1.42 lakh crore budget for 2020-21.

The debt is set to increase to Rs 1.98 lakh crore in 2020-21 against Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.

Khattar, who also holds the Finance portfolio, announced that under the Mukhya Mantri Saksham Chatra Vriti Yojana, students securing more than 80 per cent in Class 5 will be provided scholarship of Rs 6,000 as against the existing Rs 1,500 from Class 6 to 8.

“In the next financial year, students of Scheduled Caste and backward class will be provided financial support of Rs 1 lakh or 75 per cent of the tuition fees, whichever is less, for the purpose of coaching by reputed institutes,” he said.

He allocated Rs 6,533 crore for the health sector, an increase of 23.03 per cent over the revised estimate outlay.

Announcing that chemotherapy facility will be made available in all district hospitals, he also said that ventilator facilities in medical colleges will be increased from 190 to 400.

Three new medical colleges will be set up in Yamunanagar, Kaithal and Sirsa towns, he added.

Khattar said the total size of the budget for 2020-21 would be Rs 1.42 lakh crore, a rise from Rs 1.32 lakh crore in 2019-20.

The revenue deficit is expected to jump to Rs 15,373 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 12,022 crore projected in the 2019-20 budget estimates, while the capital expenditure decreased to Rs 14,413 crore for 2020-21 from Rs 17,666 crore in 2019-20.

The budget has no mention of alliance partner Jannayak Janta Party’s key poll promise to reserve 75 percent of jobs in the private sector for the local youth, but Khattar talked about developing entrepreneurial skills of the unemployed youth so that they become job providers than job seekers.

He also said that the Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (HRIDC) has been established, with an outlay of Rs 5,600 crore, to complete the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor Project connecting Palwal to Sonepat via Sohna-Manesar-Kharkhoda.

Also there is proposal of executing 150 km-long Jind-Hansi new railway line and 61 km-long Karnal-Yamunanagar railway line.

Khattar announced that in the next financial year, drone surveillance will be done to check illegal mining.

He also said that between 2014-15 and 2018-19, the per capita income of the state has increased by 35.49 per cent.

The state’s per capita income is projected to increase to Rs 180,026 in 2019-20 as compared to Rs 169,409 at constant prices in 2018-19, showing an increase of 6.3 per cent, he said.

According to advance estimates, Haryana’s per capita income at current prices in 2019-20 is estimated at Rs 264,207, which is almost twice the all India per capita income of Rs 135,050.