Lok Satta president Dr J P Narayan today said that the AP budget for 2013-14 makes no attempt at enhancing the income of people and helping them come out of poverty.
Lok Satta Party national president Dr Jayaprakash Narayan today said that the Andhra Pradesh budget for 2013-14 makes no attempt at enhancing the incomes of people and helping them come out of poverty, adding that the so-called agriculture budget similarly fails to ensure remunerative prices to farmers and improving their livelihood.
In a media statement, Dr. JP said that the government has shown no signs of learning lessons from the past, and undertaking a course correction. In fact, the budget indicates that Andhra Pradesh is headed for more troubled times, going by the debt ballooning from Rs. 82,000 crores six years ago to Rs. 1,80,000 crores now, the interest burden almost doubling to Rs.15,000 crores a year, pension liabilities leap-frogging by three times, and revenue surplus declining steeply.
Dr. JP noted that liquor accounted for Rs. 20,000 crores of the state's Rs. 87,000 crore-tax revenue.
Although the government's entire focus is on 17% of funds earmarked for welfare schemes, it has not shown any imagination in ensuring their proper utilization. For instance, entitlements to welfare schemes could have been linked to beneficiaries sending their children to school. No attempt has been made to improve the appallingly low standards of school education in the state. A per capita grant of Rs. 1000 to people in both urban and rural areas, which amounts to just 5% of the Rs.1,60,000-crore budget, would have helped local governments address immediate and pressing concerns of people.
There is no wonder that the state continues to face perpetual power shortage as the budget allocates a mere Rs. 600 crores for capital works, since 90% of the Rs. 8,000 crores to the sector goes towards meeting revenue deficit of power utilities.
Dr. JP pointed out that the money allocated to agriculture and allied sectors is Rs. 1,000 crores less than in the previous year. Yet the government has the temerity to claim a higher allocation of 24% by mischievously taking credit for an increase in bank loans to farmers. The government has made no effort to remove illegal restrictions on the movement of agricultural produce or improve storage, processing and value addition or provide pledge loans. A paltry Rs. 100 crores has been allocated towards market stabilization fund, whereas the requirement is 30 to 40 times more.
The Government has squandered the opportunity of ensuring better outcomes in every sector. The budget is totally unimaginative and merely an exercise in presenting more of the same. (INN)