No new taxes proposed
The Yogi Adityanath government on Monday presented its biggest ever budget of Rs 5,55,270,78 or Rs 5,55 lakh crore for the next fiscal 2021-22, with the target to make Uttar Pradesh 'Atmanirbhar'.
The next fiscal's budget includes new schemes worth Rs 27,598 crore.
No fresh taxes have been imposed in the new budget.
Uttar Pradesh's Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna, in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, presented the budget which is around Rs 37,410 crore more than the size of previous year's budget, making it the largest budget so far. This 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas' budget aims to bring tap water, electricity, roads, irrigate agriculture fields and provide basic amenities to every household, as well as make every village digital. It is focused on youth, women, poor and farmers.
This was the Yogi Adityanath government's first paperless budget and the fifth budget of the present government before the next assembly polls in March 2022.
Khanna, in his budget speech, said the target was to make Uttar Pradesh 'atmanirbhar' and ensure all-round development of the state. He said the budget was designed to pull Uttar Pradesh out of the most severe global economic crisis due to COVID-19 and ensure its holistic development.
In the budget, the government disclosed that it has realised over Rs 23 lakh from the offenders involved in the riots and arsons during the anti-CAA/NRC protests in the state in January last year.
Though the government has not restored the Vidhyak Nidhi (MLA Local Area Development Fund) suspended in April last year after the COVID-19 outbreak, the government has proposed to provide Rs 1,512 crore for the development works to be done on the recommendation of the 402 MLAs of the UP Assembly during 2021-22.
The finance minister said a web based survey and distribution module had been prepared for ascertaining the damages caused to crops by the floods. He said under this module, the compensation amount was being directly credited in the savings accounts of the farmers. He said in 2020, a sum of Rs 113.20 crore was credited in the accounts of 3.48 lakh farmers whose crops were damaged by floods.
For the welfare of minorities, a provision of Rs 829 crore has been proposed in the budget for providing scholarships to students of the minority communities, For the minority community-dominated population, a provision of Rs 588 crore has been made under multi-sectoral development plan for provision of basic amenities like health, education and drinking water.
On tax collection during 2021-22, the finance minister said a target of Rs 1,04,385 crore had been set for GST, Rs 41,500 from excise, Rs 25,500 crore from stamps and registration and Rs 9,350 crore from road tax.
The finance minister said the fiscal deficit was estimated to be Rs 90,729 crore which was 4.17 per cent of the state gross domestic product (SGDP). He said the total indebtedness of the state was 28.1 per cent of the SGDP.
For the current fiscal 2020-21, against the target of state's own tax revenue of Rs 1, 66 lakh crore, the collections are estimated to be short by Rs 41,154 crore at Rs 1,24 lakh crore. The revenue collection is under all heads, including GST, VAT, excise duty, road tax, land revenue, stamps and registration.
