Budget Speech 2016-17, the State Government Has Been Providing Educational Loans to the State Government Employees at an Interest Rate of 4% and Over Rs
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Itu Bitupon, Dharma Sanatan Aakexe Kirtan, Kore Sadhujon II (Gunamala, Verse 47) Magnificent and sublime is the Sanatan (Eternal) faith Which inspires the noble men to sing to the holy tune! Honourable Speaker Sir, 1. With this salutation from the Gunamala, and bowing my head in naman to Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev, the colossus who defined and unified our greater Assamese society, I stand before you, and the Honourable House, today, to present the Annual Financial Statement encompassing all Receipts and Expenditure for the year 2019-20. 2. As I stand before you today, in front of this august gathering of my colleagues and fellow citizens of the State, I bow before the Almighty and invoke the blessings of the One God and the Eternal Truth of the Universe which is at the heart of Indian age old tradition. I pay obeisance to the eternal philosophy of Dharma that upholds, sustains, and ultimately leads humanity to the exalted heights of worldly and spiritual glory. Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah Sarve Santu Nir-Aamayaah Sarve Bhadraanni Pashyantu Maa Kashcid-Duhkha-Bhaag-Bhavet II May all become happy, May all be free from illness. May all see what is auspicious, May no one suffer (1) 3. I reiterate that our endeavour is to reflect the above principles of our ancient civilization in each and every paragraph of this Budget. This Budget is dedicated to each of the 3 crore and 30 lakhs population of our state, for their happiness, health and positivity and that no one suffers from grief. Each of the proposals of this budget is in consonance with the philosophy of Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, the greater well-being of the people of this great State – Assam. 4. On 11th March 1948, Shri Bishnu Ram Medhi stood before this August House to table the first budget of post-independent Assam and outlined a vision of a vibrant state. Today, I am humbled to follow in the footsteps of this great leader. I speak on behalf of our Government when I state that more than ever, we are steadfast in our resolve to build an Assam that was dreamt by our forefathers. 5. When we formed this Government in May 2016, under the leadership of our dynamic Chief Minister, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, our mandate was clear – we wanted to create a new Assam – a confident and resurgent Assam – where each and every citizen can be secure, can live his/her life with dignity and can prosper. Our Honourable Chief Minister leads by example. He has a clear vision to develop our State in all spheres. He truly belives that Assam is a State full of possibilities, and it can trully become properous if its potentialities are harnessed properly. As this juncture, I am reminded of Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala’s poem today– Ei Prithiveeloi Anibo Lagibo Mahattor Mahajoi Karibo Lagibo Gotei Jogot Amrit Anondamoi Manuh Phulibo Lagibo Bikosi Karibo Lagibo Biswakhanke Saragi Surobheemoi (2) We must bring to this world a celebration of greatness; We must create in this world a nectar of happiness; Humans must blossom forth, They must pervade the world With celestial fragrance! 6. Assam today, Speaker Sir, is an Assam of aspiration, of ambition! Our dreams are big and thus we need to ensure now, more than ever, that each and every community that make up this unique tapestry of our heterogeneous society matches steps, and we march ahead, hand in hand, with hope, and a determination to take our rightful place in India and the World. 7. We are at the cusp of a momentous journey. In the last three years, we have built a strong foundation from which we now have to take off. This is not the time to hesitate! This is not the time to turn back the clock! This budget of 2019-20 is a budget of ascension, of lifting ourselves beyond the mundane and to stride onwards to a new dawn of development and progress in every sphere of our life. 8. In May 2016, the citizens of Assam gave us an overwhelming vote of confidence, and a mandate to usher in “Parivartan”. My first Budget was inspired by the philosophy of “Integral humanism” of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, which has the four pillars of personal integrity, political inclusivity, ethical governance and people’s participation, at its core. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” has been our guiding precept as we announced measures to ensure no citizen is left behind in our quest for economic and social development. Under the leadership of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, our Government has taken multiple steps to usher in transformational change in the lives of our citizens. The 2016-17 Budget was, thus, a budget to strengthen our social and fiscal (3) foundation. For our Government, the people of Assam are truly our Janardhana, who we are here to serve, and serve we will, till the last breath in our body. 9. The following year, on 7th February, 2017, I stood before this August House again to present our Government’s second budget. We carried forward our vision of good governance in all spheres. Our Hon’ble Chief Minister gave us the key mantras of Videshi Mukt, Durneeti Mukt, Santrasvad Mukt and Pradhushan Mukt Asom. In this budget, for the first time, I introduced the concept of ‘Ashtadash Mukutar Unnoyonee Mala’, which is a set of 18 flagship schemes. Usually, it is the Government of India that implements flagship programmes. However, we have also shown courage to dream big and start flagship programmes of our own that are funded entirely by the state resources. 10. My third budget, which I presented last year, had three strands - Ekatrikaran: consolidation of the policies and actionables from the previous two years; Somprasaron: augmentation of our vision and ambitions; and Uttoron: giving life to our aspirations by bringing in a culture of excellence in the work we do as a Government. 11. We had shared with all of you a vision of Assam as a state of immense Potentiality, Possibility and Prosperity. We took forward our agenda of Ekatrikaran with an Action Taken Report which showed how the announcements in the previous budget were implemented. Our aim was to bring transparency and accountability to our governance process. The Somprasaron of our governance process had resource mobilisation as its central theme. We adopted the idea of responsive and accountable governance by bringing in systemic reforms in (4) expenditure management. And to continue on the track of ambition and aspiration – Uttoron, the Astadash Mukutar Unnoyonee Mala was presented before this August House. A little later, I will touch upon the achievements of this garland of development, and how we will further invigorate and strengthen them going forward. After getting a good grip over the State’s finances and developmental needs, in this budget we started consolidating. 12. In all of this, our Government’s deep commitment to safeguarding Jati- Mati-Bheti have remained steadfast. These three words are not something that our Government pays only lip service to, let us not be under any delusion on this! Our Government, remains committed to the idea of Assam as a prosperous, unified, strong state. However, when we emphasize on Jati- Mati-Bheti, it is not a call for Assamese chauvinism. It is a celebration of our idea of India’s core nationalism, our dedication to Bharat Mata and our determination to preserve the distinct Assamese culture and tradition. It is also a call to the people of this State to come together to make Assam among the top five states of the country. 13. Speaker Sir, I would now like to build a case in this Budget for Assam and our development agenda in the next few years and why Assam’s ascension to the topmost league of development is unstoppable. 14. Speaker Sir, for any transformation, two of the most important ingredients are political will and fiscal resources. On political will, the history of Assam will tell how much committed we are – all of us in the Government today – to championing the cause of development and to take our beloved state to the top league. (5) Fiscal resource is the most important ingredient that we need to take our momentous journey forward. 15. Sir, let me remind the Hon’ble Members of this August House of the state of finances that we inherited in 2016. Sir, less than 3 years back, I had highlighted through the White Paper on Assam State Finances that we inherited a Government where budgets ballooned but its financing was forgotten, a Government which created huge committed liabilities but failed to generate sufficient internal resources. Our internal revenue generation in 2015-16 was so grim that the annual growth in the state taxes stood around a meagre 2%. Assam was fast becoming a state completely dependent on borrowings and Government of India funding for its survival. 16. We adapted ourselves quickly. Despite limited space for financial manoeuvrability, we have been successful in turning around the economic and financial prospects of the State. Assam is fast turning into a “New engine of growth” and is expected to gain the most in this rising tide of the Indian economy. Our dedicated efforts for resource augmentation have been yielding positive results. Revenue mobilization efforts since 2016 have been quite impressive and much higher than the growth rates achieved previously. The very first year of this government bore fruit in terms of record increase in Total Revenue by 15.5% in Financial Year 2016- 17, with near 20% increase in Tax Revenue.