BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday welcomed the 2021-22 budget as having “several positives”, but at the same time rued that the drastic reduction of share in Central taxes by about Rs 10,840 crore will seriously impact the State.
Reacting to the budget proposals, the Chief Minister said a decrease of horizontal share from 4.629 per cent (pc) to 4.528 pc for the coming five years as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission will severely impact the State’s economy.
“This is the first budget in the post-Covid scenario and there are a lot of new challenges which this budget is expected to address”, Chief Minister said and added that the proposal to expand fiscal deficit to provide growth impetus is bold.
“Focus on capital investment to push growth, a medium and long-term vision for self reliant India, reintroduction of developmental financial institution, provision for Covid-19 vaccine, industry and sector specific interventions offer hope if matched with allocation,” he stated.
The Chief Minister, however, said further capital investments are very much required for Odisha both in railway and highway sectors as it has been planned for other states. “There is a need to increase allocation in social assistance programmes and quantum of transfer for local bodies,” he said.
Stating that centralisation of revenue by introduction of cess in petrol and diesel will weaken the Centre-State fiscal balance, Naveen said, banks have to be made accountable to extend credit to women, farmers and MSMEs.
Expressing happiness over the mention of Mission Shakti in the budget, which has focused on women empowerment, the Chief Minister said after Mamata scheme was adopted by the Centre from 2011-12, the replication of State’s flagship initiative clearly showed that Odisha sets benchmarks for the nation.
Naveen said he is hopeful that after Mamata and Mission Shakti, the next logical step towards women empowerment will be reservation for women in Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for which the fight will continue. He also expressed happiness over the paperless Union budget this year.
“Union budget has turned green with digital budget like what Odisha has been following from last year,” he said.