Kerala Budget 2021 Highlights Live Updates: Kerala FM TM Thomas Isaac is presenting the budget for 2020-21.
Kerala Budget 2021 Live Updates: Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac is presenting the last budget of the current LDF government. This is his 12th budget overall as he had handled the finance portfolio in the 2006-11 VS Achuthanandan government too.
There are indications that Isaac will not interfere too much with taxes, given that the state government is on its way out in the next four months. But he may give more focus to some of the projects that has won favour among the people such as welfare pension, hiking the MSP for rice and coconut.
With Kerala facing mounting debt and a sharp decline in revenue due to the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, it will be interesting to see how and from where the finance minister will gather funds to run some of the ambitious projects he has in mind.
Kerala Budget 2021 Live Updates: Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac presents the Kerala budget for 2021.
The finance minister has announced that the laptop distribution project of the state government will be expanded in a way that every household in the state will have access to a laptop.
BPL families will be able to purchase laptops at a subsidy of 25% and those classified as ‘financially vulnerable’ will get free laptops.
Additionally, 3.5 lakh students in the state will get access to digital study materials.
* 1000 new posts to be created in universities.
* Setting up 30 centres of excellence among existing universities.
* Rs 1000-crs outlay for affiliated colleges
* 800 vacancies in the higher education sector to be filled instantly.
* Creation of new post-doctoral fellowships to encourage research.
Isaac, in his budget speech, condemned what he termed as an ‘organised attack’ on KIIFB, the favourite investment arm of the Kerala government which has faced allegations of corruption. In the last 5 years, the LDF government has leaned heavily on KIIFB to steamroll many of its social welfare projects: from building roads and bridges to upgradation of schools and hospitals.
* Government to create 8000 new posts in the health department.
* First phase of the flagship scheme K-Fon, envisaging affordable internet for everyone, will conclude next month.
* Govt plans to give 8 lakh new jobs in the next financial year.
* Rs 1000-cr outlay for self-governing local bodies
* 3900 new startups have been created in the state in last 5 years.
One of the important commodities coming out from Kerala, rubber will now have a base price. The budget envisages that the base price of rubber has been fixed at Rs 170, helping shore up earnings of farmers.
A populist measure, the finance minister has announced the widely-expected move of hiking the social welfare pensions by Rs 100. The monthly pension will now be Rs 1600.
Welcome to our live blog where we will be discussing the announcements by Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac as he presents the last budget for the current LDF government.
Women who arrived for work await information after the Cochin Special Economic Zone that houses several industrial units was closed as part of Covid-19 containment measures in Kochi on Oct 1, 2020. (AP Photo/R S Iyer)
Kerala budget 2021 LIVE UPDATES: A day before presentation of Kerala’s budget, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac Thursday tabled the government’s Economic Review 2020 in the state Assembly. He said the state has suffered an economic loss to the tune of Rs 1.56 lakh crore due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Several non-resident Keralites (NRKs) returned to the state from abroad due to the situation.
The Review states that natural disasters, including Cyclone Ockhi of 2017 and two consecutive floods of 2018 and 2019, also had a big impact on the state’s economy. “The natural disasters ravaged the state economy affecting the lives and livelihoods of many and adversely affecting productive sectors of the economy,” it said.
Kerala’s economic growth rate dipped to 3.45 per cent in 2019-20 from 6.49 per cent in 2018-19 owing to the calamities. “The quick estimate of Keralas Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at constant (2011-12) prices is Rs 5.68 lakh crore in 2019-20 as against the provisional estimate of Rs 5.49 lakh crore in 2018-19, thus registering a rate of growth of 3.45 per cent in 2019-20. The corresponding rate of growth in 2018-19 was 6.49 per cent,” the Review said.
Source: Read Full Article