Guwahati: Assam’s budget session for 2023 includes five major announcements by the state administration, led by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, with an emphasis on the empowerment of women, government workers, the education sector, religious organisations, etc.
The deficit budget for Assam’s fiscal year 2023–24 was submitted to the assembly on Thursday by finance minister Ajanta Neog. It totals Rs. 935.23 crore.
Orunodoi Entitlement Enhanced
The state government has decided to increase the Orunodoi entitlement by another Rs 150, making it Rs 1,400 per beneficiary every month by the end of this fiscal year, according to the state’s finance minister Ajanta Neog, who made the announcement at today’s budget presentation.
The state government’s Orunodoi programme, which has helped millions in the state fight poverty, has been a remarkable success. Almost 17 lakh households will benefit from the increase in the monthly benefits under this programme from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,250 starting in October 2022.
On December 14, 2022, the state government launched “Orunodoi 2.0” with a broad set of rules.
Special Focus on Women Empowerment
The Assam Budget 2023 placed further emphasis on female entrepreneurship by focusing on the potential already there in Self Help Group (SHG) women. Every SHG-affiliated woman will be inspired by this to change into home-based business owners.
The state government will make sure each SHG member gets her own bank account to get the process started.
“We will disburse Rs 1000 into all such bank accounts of SHG members to incentivise her to maintain an active bank account and to develop business project proposal. If the project is approved, the woman will get Rs 10,000 in subsequent year to develop her business into a successful home-based enterprise. All these payments would be done through DBT. Through this initiative, we plan to develop 30 lakh women entrepreneurs in the State,” said Neog while presenting the budget today.
Not only this, there are around 1,13,820 widows (beneficiaries) who receive National Widow Pension with entitlement of Rs 300 per month.
“The state government will verify these beneficiaries and if already not covered under Orunodoi, all such beneficiaries will be provided a top-up of Rs 950 per month to provide them total amount of Rs 1250 per month,” added Minister Ajanta Neog in her budget speech.
‘Apun Bahan’ Scheme Introduced for Government Employees
For the employees, the state government has come up with “Apun Bahan” scheme, where government employees can avail 2% interest subvention to avail a motor vehicle loan. “This will be enhanced to 3% for women and divyangjan employees,” Ajanta Neog said.
An amount of Rs 12 crore has been proposed for the said scheme.
Construction and Upgradation of universities
In the education sector, the department has taken up the works for construction of seven new universities at Hojai, Bajali, Narayanpur, Golaghat, Chabua, Majuli and Jorhat and upgrade eight universities – Sibsagar college, Kokrajhar Government college, Bongaigaon college, Jagannath Barooah College in Jorhat, North Lakhimpur College, Handique Girl’s college, Nagaon College and Gurucharan college in Silchar into universities by introducing enabling legislations.
As a monument to the famous Assamese liberation hero Shahid Kanaklata Barua and to raise the bar for higher education in the North Bank, a new university with the name Shahid Kanaklata Barua State University would be founded at Gohpur at the same time. Bodoland University will also develop a branch campus in Udalguri.
A total of almost Rs 1,200 crore would be set aside for infrastructure construction.
Rs 15 Lakh each to Religious Institutions
The redesigned Assam Darshan programme will give each of the historic religious buildings, including Namghars, Mandirs, Mosques, Churches, and Gurudwaras, a sum of Rs 15 lakh. This programme has been given a budget of Rs 180 crore. 130 of these institutions had previously received Rs 10 lakh each from the state government.
Also, the state government has undertaken efforts to preserve almost 8000 new Namghars in current fiscal year under the Assam Darshan scheme in order to preserve the cultural history and legacy.
Furthermore, the state government will grant a fund of Rs 2.5 lakh per institution for religious organisations that see more tourists and have regular festivals.
In previous budgets, the state government had included measures for the upkeep and preservation of Batadrava Than and Madhabdev’s birthplace at Narayanapur. These locations’ construction projects will be finished this year.