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1. Honourable Speaker Sir, with your permission, I rise to present the budget for the year 2017-18 before this august House. This is the first budget of the BJP government in Arunachal Pradesh, led by the youngest Chief Minister of the country, Shri Pema Khandu, and therefore holds a special significance. 2. We have completed three decades of our existence as a state of the Indian union and this is an opportune occasion for candid introspection. It has been an eventful journey in the history for Arunachal Pradesh, with its fair share of highs and lows. We have witnessed before our own eyes the transformation of a remote border tract into a vibrant state. In spite of the fact that we share a large international border with Bhutan, Myanmar and China, each community of Arunachal Pradesh has carried the spirit of nationalism from generation to generation. We are the proud inheritors of a rich legacy and our people have demonstrated enormous resilience even in face of adversity. We rejoice in our cultural diversity which manifests itself in rainbow hues. Arunachal Pradesh has always been a living embodiment of unity in diversity, 3. Through centuries, our forefathers have braved the challenges of geography and each tribal community has evolved its own rhythm of life in harmony with nature. These forests and rivers and mountains have sustained generations of our people even when there were no roads or means of communications. We share a sacred bond with nature which is perhaps alien to most people. Budget Speech of Sh Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister. March 10, 2017 1 4. However, it is precisely for these challenges of remoteness that our people have remained bereft of the fruits of development. By development, I am not alluding to material prosperity but to the light of knowledge which empowers; to the access to basic services for a dignified life; to the hope in the eyes of each parent for a brighter future for their children. 5. Even today, there are so many habitations which remain unconnected with roads, Thousands of villages which are yet to see the power of illumination. Thousands of children are still deprived of their rights to education for absence of teachers. Thousands more who actually manage an education but are unable to put it to productive use. Thousands of farmers toil in their fields, braving harsh climatic conditions, and have no access to markets. Our heart goes out for the poor people who are afflicted with disease and have no means or access to a hospital. I recall the words of Mahatma Gandhi and I quote “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions” Budget Speech of Sh Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister. March 10, 2017 2 Speaker Sir, 6. Members of this august house today carry an enormous burden on their shoulders. People of our state who have elected us have done so with a hope of change in their hearts. They have reposed trust and confidence in our abilities to deliver on the promise of development. The youth of the state are getting restive and they want to see their state grow along with the rest of India. We must not let them down. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, a great son of India, “We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act”. Speaker Sir, 7. Today we are poised at the cusp of transformational change and it is the shared responsibility of all the members of this house to strengthen the spirit of “Team Arunachal”, which resonates in every heart, young and old. Speaker Sir, 8. You are aware that our government assumed office in the backdrop of tumultuous political changes. Instability of successive governments marred the political landscape and had a cascading impact on financial management, governance and development. This year alone, we had Budget Speech of Sh Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister. March 10, 2017 3 to bear a liability burden of over Rs 4000 crores. It was indeed a tight rope walk for our government as we had to strike a balance between the imperative of expanding public investments and defraying past liabilities while maintaining our commitment on maintaining a reasonable fiscal deficit. 9. Over the last few months we have taken a series of measures which has simplified the decision making processes. We feel that over centralization of decision making is neither amenable to effective financial controls nor does it give spending flexibility to the concerned departments. We have endeavoured to infuse greater degree of decentralization in decision making and fixing accountability at the operational levels. At the same time, we have kept a close watch on our expenditure management through a more scientific expenditure authorization mechanism, based on actual progress of work and available cash balances. Speaker Sir 10. The Gross state domestic product is estimated to be Rs 21,414 crores in 2016-17, growing from a level of Rs 11062.69 crores five years ago. If we look at the profile of the economy of Arunachal Pradesh, we can see that there is a slow but perceptible shift of economic activity from the primary sector to the tertiary sector in the last few years. Nonetheless, the primary sector contributed to 38.21% Budget Speech of Sh Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister. March 10, 2017 4 of GSDP at constant prices, while the tertiary sector contributed to 40.28% of GSDP. 11.I would like to share with this august house the resource position of the state and the projections for the coming financial year. The Share of Central taxes grew from actual receipt of Rs 7075.58 crores in 2015-16 to Rs 8388.30 crores in revised estimates of 2016-17. The state’s own tax revenue in the revised estimates of 2016-17 was Rs 650.63 crores as against actual receipt of Rs 535.07 crores in 2015-16, growing at 21.59%. Nearly 94% of the tax revenue was collected by the Tax and excise department. The non-tax revenue receipt in the revised estimates of 2016-17 is estimated at Rs 506.79 crores as against an actual collection of Rs 392.12 crores in 2015-16, showing a growth of 29.2%. 12. In the budget estimates of 2017-18, we are projecting a revenue receipt of Rs 14599 crores and a capital receipt of Rs 1436.75 crores, making the total receipts of Rs 16035 crores. This marks an increase of over 15% from the budget estimates of 2016-17. Our share of Central taxes has been pegged at a level of Rs. 9306.34 crores and this represents the biggest source of resource for us. We have projected states own tax revenue to be at a level of Rs. 742.94 crores .The non- tax revenue projection for 2017-18 has been pegged at Rs 536.29 crores. Budget Speech of Sh Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister. March 10, 2017 5 13. This year, Arunachal Pradesh, along with the rest of the country will be joining the unified Goods and Services Tax regime, which will subsume most of the indirect taxes and infuse greater transparency in tax administration. It will also have a salutary impact on the final prices of commodities and be beneficial to the consumers. The GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister has held several rounds of meetings and GST will become a reality over the next few months. This step will finally convert India into a unified market based on a principle of One Nation one Tax. This is the biggest economic reform India has undertaken in the post 1991 period and will give tremendous impetus to economic growth. Being a destination based tax, Arunachal Pradesh will be a net beneficiary in this regime and we hope to witness some degree of buoyancy in our revenue receipts on this count. For the consumer also there will be a salutary impact on inflation. Speaker Sir, 14. After the implementation of GST, Excise duty will be the only flexible taxation instrument in our hands for resource augmentation. We have taken a fresh look at the prevailing duty rates on alcohol and spirits and felt that they were too low in the national context. A decision to revise excise duty rates has been taken and the new duties on alcohol and spirits are being notified by the Excise department. We hope that with the rationalized duty rates, our excise duty revenue will cross Rs 250 crores in the coming financial year. We will also take Budget Speech of Sh Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister. March 10, 2017 6 measures to strengthen the department of Geology and Mining to enable it to truly harness the rich mineral resources with which we are endowed. 15. In terms of our expenditure strategy, we are committed to meet the fiscal deficit targets laid out in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2006 and our state had a fiscal deficit of 0.4% of GSDP in revised estimates of 2016-17, which is well within the 3% obligation as per the FRBM Act.

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