Rajasthan
Budget thrust next year would be on education, says Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot | Jaipur News
JAIPUR: Chairing the second meeting of the economic advisory committee, chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said that the reduced compensation of GST losses and less than estimated payout from the divisible pool of central taxes have complicated the fiscal situation of the state.
Despite the lower payout by the Centre, the state government has managed its finances prudently to fund programs and initiatives of departments like education, health, water, electricity road and infrastructure.
He said Rajasthan is one of the few states which have been able to spend more for various programmes despite reduced share of taxes from the Centre. “We are trying to fulfill all the promises made in the manifesto,” he said in a release.
He said in the current budget, the focus was on improving health infrastructure and in the coming budget the thrust would be on education.
He said that Rajasthan was estimated to get Rs 50,000 crore in 2020-21 from the Centre’s divisible pool of taxes as per the 15th finance commission. “But now we are getting only Rs 32,000 crore,” he said.
In central assistance programmes for water and others, the ratio of funding used to be 90% by the Centre and 10% by the states. “Now, the ratio is 50:50 which has put additional burden on the states,” he added. Similarly, from the divisible pool of fuel taxes, the state government’s share is coming down steadily, he claimed.
In order to fight Covid, the state government has increased oxygen beds by 149%, ICU beds by 64% and ventilator beds by 87%. “In the last two and half years, 90,000 recruitments have been done for providing better health services and another 81,000 recruitment are under process,” he claimed.
The meeting was attended by several senior ministers of the government, including members of the advisory committee.
Despite the lower payout by the Centre, the state government has managed its finances prudently to fund programs and initiatives of departments like education, health, water, electricity road and infrastructure.
He said Rajasthan is one of the few states which have been able to spend more for various programmes despite reduced share of taxes from the Centre. “We are trying to fulfill all the promises made in the manifesto,” he said in a release.
He said in the current budget, the focus was on improving health infrastructure and in the coming budget the thrust would be on education.
He said that Rajasthan was estimated to get Rs 50,000 crore in 2020-21 from the Centre’s divisible pool of taxes as per the 15th finance commission. “But now we are getting only Rs 32,000 crore,” he said.
In central assistance programmes for water and others, the ratio of funding used to be 90% by the Centre and 10% by the states. “Now, the ratio is 50:50 which has put additional burden on the states,” he added. Similarly, from the divisible pool of fuel taxes, the state government’s share is coming down steadily, he claimed.
In order to fight Covid, the state government has increased oxygen beds by 149%, ICU beds by 64% and ventilator beds by 87%. “In the last two and half years, 90,000 recruitments have been done for providing better health services and another 81,000 recruitment are under process,” he claimed.
The meeting was attended by several senior ministers of the government, including members of the advisory committee.
