The Government of Jharkhand organized Budget Goshti (Pre Budget dialogue) under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday to invite suggestions from different stakeholders for formulation of Budget 2022-23. Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Jharkhand welcomed the participants, presented a pen picture of Budget and explained how the Government is trying to make the budget more inclusive. After ‘Hamar Apan Budget App and online consultation, today’s ‘Budget Goshti’, he said was the third measure towards this.
Experts from various fields expressed their views on nine key thematic areas including Agriculture and Irrigation, Health, Education, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Power, Welfare, Employment and Labour & Resource Mobilization.
Prof. Amarendu Nandy, from IIM, Ranchi, which is the Knowledge Partner for the programme, in his address set the context for the thematic Areas of the workshop.
Prem Shankar, PRADAN, G. K. Nair, CGM, NABARD, Prof. Ashok Vishandass, IIPA & Former Chairman CACP and Prof. Nilanjan Banik, Mahindra University, Hyderabad gave their inputs on Agriculture and Irrigation sector. The suggestion focused on key areas like Promotion of Horticulture, Organic Farming potential in the State, Strengthening of Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure, Solar based lift irrigation projects, promoting agriculture produce processing etc.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Rani Children Hospital; Dr. Anant, XISS; Prof. Rattan Chand, Sr. Consultant, World Bank and Dr. Manisha Priyam from NIEPA, Delhi gave their inputs for upgrading Health and Education facilities in the State. The experts discussed their views for expanding the scope of Ayushman Bharat Yojna, improving man-power availability and infrastructure in health and education sector, establishment of new medical colleges, increasing budget allocation in health and education sector, establishment of Institutions for promotion of tribal and regional languages etc.
People from across the state also gave their suggestions through the digital platform for Budget 2022-23 through Hamar Apan Budget Portal. Letter of appreciation was given to the selected representatives for providing their appreciable suggestion to the Government of Jharkhand on the State Budget for the fiscal year 2022 – 23. Shruti Suman, Bokaro, Haldar Mahato, Ramgarh, Subhojit Kumar Patar, East Singhbhum and Anand Raj presented their expectations from Budget 2022-23. Their views focused on addressing mal-nutrition, promoting solar power plants, student credit card, waste-management and other grassroot level issues.
Johnson Topno, PHIA Foundation, Ranchi, Prof. Prabal Sen, XLRI, Jamshedpur, Prof. Himanshu, JNU, Delhi and representatives from Industry Association discussed ways for improving the Welfare, Employment and Labour sector. Prof. Shantanu Gupta, XLRI, Jamshedpur and Prof. Charan Singh from IIM Bengaluru discussed Resource Mobilization. Valuable inputs were given by S.P Tucker, Prof. M. Govind Rao, Prof. Jean Dreze and Prof. Abhijit Sen.
Chief Secretary, Sukhdev Singh, expressed that the State is facing challenges in increasing Resource Mobilization due to constraints which are beyond State’s control. He shared that there needs to be balance between the Social Security Schemes and Infrastructure Development schemes.
Finance Minister, Rameshwar Oraon expressed that the vision of the government is reflected in the budget. The government is committed to the welfare of the poor and marginalized and the budget process reflects the same. Appreciating the views of the participants, he shared that the suggestions shall be incorporated in the short term and long term plans of the government. Apart from focusing on the expenditure on key and focused areas, the government is also committed towards additional revenue mobilization despite the constraints from the Central Government.
CM Hemant Soren said that Jharkhand has huge wealth of natural resources but limited economic resources. COVID-19 global pandemic has affected the poor, migrant labors, farmers and marginalized section the most. Under these circumstances, budget formulation is a challenging process. The government is committed to convert these challenges into opportunities and work for the holistic development of the state. The CM thanked the participants for sharing their valuable suggestions assuring that all suggestions will be carefully considered while preparing the Budget 2022-23.
