From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday presented a Rs 1,193 crore deficit budget for 2019-20 with no fresh taxes and introducing new schemes like providing rice to poor at Re 1 a kg and gold for brides. The budget also proposed to provide financial assistance to students, including girls from the minority community.
Sarma on Wednesday presented the state Budget announcing 18 flagship schemes that are basically aimed at providing benefits to middle-class and the poor.
These schemes include providing rice at Re 1 per kg to 53 lakh households, one tola gold to brides belonging to all communities where it is customary to provide gold at the time of wedding.
Rice at Re one per kg will be provided under the Affordable Nutrition & Nourishment Assistance (ANNA) Yojana. The government will start the pilot implementation of ANNA Yojana from March, 2019.
“I am happy to announce that we shall give ‘one tola (11.66 grams) gold’, costing around Rs 38,000 as on today, to brides belonging to all such communities of our State where it is customary to provide gold at the time of wedding.
Sarma added that the benefit is commensurate with the state’s population policy and would be made available for the first two children of a family and only in cases where the bride and groom have both attained the legal age of 18 years and 21 years, respectively.
The Assam government would verify birth certificates and conduct medical examination, if required, to ensure that the claims are true, he said.
The benefit under this scheme can be availed upon formal registration of the marriages under the Special Marriage (Assam) Rules, 1954 and will reach the beneficiaries right in time for the social marriage,” said the minister.
He also promised to create development councils for indigenous Muslims for holistic development of the council among others. “Once the corporation is formed during the course of the year, I will immediately allocate a sum of Rs 100 crore for taking up various developmental and employment related activities,” the minister said.
The provision of admission fee waiver upto degree level will be extended to those parents whose potential annual income is below Rs two lakh and that the government will provide free text books to students up to degree level (Arts, Science & Commerce) from the present level of Class XII.
Sarma further announced a subsidy of Rs 700 per student per month to be paid for 10 months in a year, irrespective of their economic status, on the mess bills, for those students staying in the hostels of government, or provincialised colleges and universities.
The government is going to provide battery operated ‘e-bikes’ to all girl students who secure first division or above in their higher secondary examinations for commuting to their places of higher studies.
A scholarship scheme was also announced in the budget to support all girls belonging to minority communities to encourage and incentivise them to continue their higher education, he said. The guidelines are being worked out by the Education Department and the scheme, which has been allocated Rs 200 crore, will be launched in 2019-20, he said.
Touching upon the tea gardens workers, Sarma said that while the government has decided to provide rice, which is presently provided at the rate of Rs three per kg, free of cost to four lakh families in the tea garden areas and two kg of sugar per month to the families of tea garden workers.
The government will also be launching a new scheme under which any widow up to the age of 45 years will receive a lump sum amount of Rs 25,000 to tide over the financial vacuum created by the loss of the bread earner. In addition to the immediate assistance of Rs 25,000, Sarma said, the widow will also be eligible for a monthly pension of Rs 250 until she attains the age of 60 years, post which she will be moved to the old age pension scheme. (With inputs from PTI)