Shimla38 minutes ago
- copy link
Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will present the last and fifth budget of the current government in the house on March 4. Earlier on March 3, the budget for the financial year 2022-23 will be approved in the cabinet. After presenting the budget in the house, it will be discussed and it will be passed in the house on March 15.
The Himachal Pradesh State Act was passed in the Parliament in December 1970. Accordingly, Himachal Pradesh became the 18th state of the country on 25 January 1971. After getting full statehood, the first budget of Rs 80.18 crore was presented for the financial year 1971-72.
On completion of 50 years in the financial year 2021-22, the budget has increased to 50,192 crores. After passing the supplementary budget of 2229.94 crores in the current session, it has increased to 52421.94 crores. In such a situation, the annual budget of the coming financial year can be up to 55 thousand crores.
Revenue expenditure exceeded the budget passed last year
For the current financial year, the Jairam government had passed a budget of Rs 50,192 crore, but revenue expenditure of Rs 2229.94 crore has been exceeded. Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh raised the question in the House. Revenue expenditure is high and capital expenditure is low, and capital expenditure constitutes infrastructure. 2000 crores was spent extravagantly. After this, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur put a proposal in the House to pass a supplementary budget regarding this in the current session.
Himachal buried under the debt of 65 thousand crores
The small hill state of Himachal is buried under a debt of about 65,000 crores. Due to the income being eighty and the expenditure being rupees, the debt burden on the state is increasing. The present government itself has taken a loan of about 22000 crores in its four year tenure. The situation is so bad that even to repay the old loan, one has to take a loan.
Himachal is going to get this blow
Himachal Pradesh is going to get a big setback this year. The central government is going to stop the GST reimbursement amount in June 2022, which the central government is giving every year since the implementation of GST in the country. Due to this, the problems of Himachal, who drink ghee every year by taking loans, are going to increase. Himachal has been getting three thousand to about 3500 crore rupees every year as GST reimbursement amount from the Center. Now it’s going to be closed.
Problems will increase due to new pay scale
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has announced to give the benefits of 6th pay scale to the employees and pensioners in December 2021 itself. According to the new pay commission, giving a new pay scale will put an additional financial burden of Rs 450 crore on the government. The payment of additional pension payment will cost the government Rs 70 to 80 crore. There are about 2.25 lakh employees and about 1.5 lakh pensioners in the state. The benefits of 6th pay scale and pension are payable to them from January 1, 2016. At present, about Rs 1100 crore is being spent on salary and about Rs 650 crore on annual pension. After giving the new salary, the expenditure on pension and salary will be around Rs 2300 crore annually.
Out of 100 rupees, 25.31 is being spent on salary
More than 56 percent of the budget of the income from various levels of the state government and the amount received from the Center under various schemes is being spent on salary, pension, repayment of bank loans and repayment of interest. About 33 percent of the budget is saved for various developmental work. In simple words, during the financial year 2021-22, out of every 100 rupees, 25.31 rupees are being spent on salary, 14.11 rupees on pension, 10 rupees interest, 6.64 rupees to repay loans, 43.94 rupees on developmental work and other activities. According to experts, after giving the new pay scale, hardly 25 percent of the budget will be saved for development work.
Privacy is taken care of
The budget speech is a very confidential document of the government. Therefore, while preparing the budget, strict instructions are given to all the departments to maintain its secrecy. In order to maintain the secrecy of the budget, the printing of the budget is done in the government press instead of the private one. It is to be printed on March 3. The next day the Chief Minister will lay it on the Table of the Legislative Assembly. From the day of printing till the presentation of the budget, the employees of the printing press are not allowed to go home. They are given strict instructions not to leak confidentiality.