Here is everything you need to know about Rajasthan Budget 2016-2017

8th March 2016 will be written in golden words in the history of Rajasthan for a number of reasons. It was not just the International Women’s Day but also the Birthday of Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje. With her great will power, determination and hard work, she has taken the development of the state to a higher growth. She has always proved that women can also rule a state equally well (or probably better). Women’s Day in Rajasthan got a whole new meaning  today as CM Vasundhara Raje presented before the state her 3rd financial budget. What could have been a better way of celebrating her birthday?

People of all sections of the society were expecting a lot from the budget and it seems that they are quite happy with the outcome. CM Vasundhara Raje has successfully managed to bring broader smiles on the faces of the citizens of her state.Holding the financial portfolio herself, she held several pre-budget meetings with representatives of different sectors to know and understand the expectations of the public. She also appealed people to give their suggestions and valuable inputs for the budget 2016 online. We are sure she and her Team Rajasthan would have worked day-night to bring out such an effective and impressive budget.

On International Women’s Day let’s start with talking about women. CM Vasundhara Raje being one of the few female Chief Ministers in the country has kept in mind women empowerment while framing the Rajasthan budget 2016-17. Girl child birth, her education and marriage have always been flaming issues in patriarchal states such as Rajasthan. Taking the same into account, she has increased the amount of subsidy being provided for community marriages along with an increase in the gift amount of widow remarriage to rupees 30000. Also, to minimize and eventually end the cases of abortion and female foeticide in the state, Raje launched Garima Girl Child Protection Award and CM Shubha Mangla Yojana. She has also increased the subsidy amount provided on the birth of a female child. A new scheme ‘CM Rajshri Yojana’ was also announced for girl child welfare. While everyone talks about the women security in the state, she has actually laid story plans by proposing more than 1.5 lakh girls will be given training of self defense in the coming 3 years and many toll free call centers will be set up throughout the state. CM Raje has proved that the women are no less when it comes to stepping out of the homes and working and thus she has proposed to give subsidies to working women hostels run by NGOs and has provided various incentives to women entrepreneurs.

We all know that youth is the most important section of the society and CM thinks the same. With the aim of providing the youngsters with better quality education she has granted Rs. 173 crore for infrastructure development of colleges and universities and additional Rs. 104.50 crore for construction of 8 new college buildings. Another important thing to note here is that more than 40000 youth will be given campus placement in government  ITIs. She stated that recruitment of more than 1 lakh students is presently going on in the state. An amount of 13 crore has been granted for providing electricity in schools. Apart from this, she has proposed to start 2 new entrepreneurship and small business management centers at the capital city Jaipur and education hub Kota.

Talking about sports next, she said that 2016 will prove to be a year of development and youth, hence she has launched a scheme for sports academies on PPP basis. To motivate the youth to participate and contribute more into sports, she has granted Rs. 3 crore for scholarships for talented, identified state level players. She has proposed an amount of Rs. 10 crore for new 500 capacity hostel in SMS stadium and Rs. 3.34 crore for state level sports for 14 games.

Farmers collectively are and always have been a vital section of the society. Drastic climate changes have been ruining the crops and ultimately the lives of the farmers and thus Vasundhara Raje through her budget has tried her best to bring back lost smiles of our food-providers. She has granted Rs. 2471 crore relief to farmers for rabi-2015 hailstorm and has allotted Rs. 676.37 crore for the new Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme. She has introduced special schemes for Organic farming in eleven districts. With the construction cost of Rs. 80 crore she will set up 1000 new animal husbandry health sub-centers. Also, the rates on Tractors and Trolleys have been reduced along with granting Rs 440 Cr for Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Yojana. She left the farmers feeling good when she announced that more than Rs. 12000 crore of new projects will be started in irrigation sector.

While she was planning for everyone, she could not have missed out on less fortunate sections. She has four times increased the mess allowance of SJED PPP hostels and has proposed an increase of 750 seats in 30 hostels for SC and ST respectively. Also, she has granted Rs. 15.75 crore for seven new hostel buildings for the Scheduled caste and Rs. 3.14 crore for 100 new Ma-Bari Kendra for the Scheduled tribes. Along with this, Rs. 4.13 crore for ramps and lifts for the disabled people in government offices has been granted.

Tourism plays an important role when it comes to revenue generation for the state. We have always seen the CM coming up with new ideas to develop the tourism industry of the state. This time she has granted Rs. 35 crore for development of 12 important religious places and Rs. 22.60 crore for development works of Amer, Nahargarh, Jantar Mantar, Albert Hall and other major tourist destinations of the state. Along with granting Rs. 62.33 crore to IEC campaign works she has also proposed the development of tribal tourism circuit. To conserve the history of the state, Rs. 10.80 crore for new museum of records has been granted. Apart from these, 17.98 cr will be  invested to improve the condition of Airport Runways. A provision of 400 cr has been announced for Jaipur and Udaipur since they were recently announced as the smart cities.

The general public of the state has been expecting a lot from the CM and we can say she has not let them down. More or less, all the government processes been digitalized with the motto of ‘digital Rajasthan and good governance‘. Provisions have been made for legalizing service of notice by e-mail and facilities of online search of documents will be made available to the people. Stamp duty on unstamped and unregistered pattas issued after regularization by Local Urban Bodies has been reduced and also on bank guarantee and their renewal executed before 9.3.2015. VAT on all types of vehicles has been reduced. 15% VAT on cigarettes and 5% VAT on garments have been raised respectively. Price rates of all electronic items to be reduced along with the decrease in prices of matchsticks, leather shoes and memory cards etc. Efforts will be made to connect more than 48000 families to micro enterprises. 15 thousand E-Mitra pay points will be developed under Bhamasha Yogna. Also if we talk about the justice and courts, Rs. 23.22 crore for rest room, ramps, parking and toilets etc. at various sub-ordinate courts and Rs. 165.50 crore for new construction of court buildings have been granted.

A lot has been done for the Business industry of the state. Information regarding verification of dealers search, payment, PAN, forms & Certificates and status of all types of application will be available to dealers on anytime anywhere basis on the mobile. Dealers are allowed exercising option regarding place of audit to be conducted under business audit. Stamp Duty has been eliminated from education loans of upto 10 lakhs. Also, Online Registration certificates will be given online to dealers on registration. Along with this, exemption from entry tax from ACSR conductors, telephones and parts, insulators, photocopiers, stay wire, TV sets etc has been proposed. A total relief of around 325 crore have been given on taxation. Apart from this, the builders and developers will now be given facility of depositing project wise lump sum tax.

A great emphasis has been made on conserving wildlife of the state. New STPF for Sariska and Mukundra Tiger Reserve has been proposed along with the revised rehabilitation package of residents of Sariska, Ranthambhor and Mukundra Tiger Reserve. A large amount of Rs. 138 crore to be spent under CAMPA for forest development and wildlife protection.

This was certainly a smartly designed budget. We don’t think there has been anything left out as she has planned something for everyone as a result people of the state could be seen cheered-up after the release of Rajasthan Budget 2016-17.
Now, as all the major highlights of the Budget have been talked about, we would like to conclude with a sher as said by CM Vasundhara Raje herself,

Hamare hoslon ki takat mat napiye, Rajasthan ke liye hum apna khun bhi baha denge, tum bhi chalo is safar me agar mere sath, vikaas ki ganga ghar ghar baha denge

Bravo!!

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1 COMMENT

  1. […] Tourism plays a big role in the Indian economy, with many benefits in its multiplier effects. The consumption demand that is a result of tourist expenditure brings in revenues and supports livelihoods, both directly and indirectly. Last year India saw a growth in tourist traffic of 9%. However, the growth in the amount international visitors spent in India was low at 3% when compared to China, which saw a growth of more than 8%. It is estimated that international tourist arrivals in India crossed the 7 million mark last year and is likely to hit 13 million by 2024. 7 % of the country’s GDP comes from this industry. It is evident how important tourism is to India and also the fact that there is much scope for improvement. Despite uncertainty in global economy and specific challenges to travel and tourism in 2015, globally, the sector grew by 3.1% contributing a total of 9.8% of the global GDP. It is forecasted that the tourism industry is expected to grow 4% annually over the next ten years. To maintain the competitive edge, every state needs to create new products, reinvent established products and have on offer an engaging and holistic experience that shall keep the visitor occupied and hopefully go back wanting for more. It is with this belief that CM Vasundhara Raje is progressing sequentially to revamp the tourism sector and its administration in Rajasthan, probably why her Government has increased the outlay of the tourism department in the Rajasthan Budget 2016. […]

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