K N Balagopal, the new Finance Minister of Kerala presented his first budget on Friday in which he has left the people unscathed without burdening them with new taxes of any kind. While blaming the Central Government led by Narendra Modi for all the ills faced by the State during the last five years, Balagopal waxed eloquent on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the sterling leadership provided by the latter which the Finance Minister claims saved the State and its people.
The uniqueness of the budget 2021-2022 that envisages a revenue deficit of `16,910.12 crore is a Covid package of `20,000 crore with which the Finance Minister hopes to offer free vaccine to all those above 18 years of age. T
hough there are no major investment plans to set up industrial complexes which alone would address the unemployment problem faced by the State, Balagopal declared a fund of `2,000 crore to make additional working capital available for the MSME units in the State and `1,000 crore for Kudumbasree Units in the State.
The Finance Minister said he would come back to the House with scemes to mobilise additional resources after the pandemic subsides. “I will surely announce ways and means to mop up additional revenue with new taxes and how to cut administrative costs,” said the minister.
Kerala Government would set up a major liquid oxygen plant with 150 tonne capacity to ramp up oxygen production in the State. He said that there has been a dip of 3.8 per cent in the Gross Domestic Production of the State during 2019-2020 and the State has been left with no income.
Hari Kartha, economist-turned-political commentator who has been studying the annual budgets of the State for more than three decades described the budget presented by Balagopal as illusory and unrealistic. “This revised budget is nithing other than a ritual. Balagopal has announced a Covid package of `20,000 crore in addition to what predecessor Issac has done. But where does the money come from? He was lavish in announcing schemes despite several fiscal crisis. They lack credibility for want of additional resource mobilization measures. The debt trap is getting tightened over Kerala. The Finance Minister’s hopes are on KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board ) which itself is a controversial institution. The CAG has pulled up KIIFB for its unconstitutional style of fiscal management,” pointed out Kartha.
More scathing was the assessment by Prof B Vijayakumar, economist and author. “The finance minister is silent about how he is going to generate 40 lakh jobs as promised in the election manifesto of the CPI(M)-led LDF. There is no hint of any industrialization drive in the budget speech. Cochin, once the industrial hub of Kerala has become an industrial graveyard. The budget speech is full of criticism of the Central Government even while the State re-packages re-names and market the programmes announced by the Centre. The LDF Government is good in coming out with attractive labels for its projects. In 2019-2020 people were charmed with New Kerala Reconstruction Programme and the scheme has not taken off till date. This budget is silent about the entire project. The State Government has forgotten its own announcement,” said Prof Vijayakumar.
Leader of the Opposition V D Satheeshan, Prof Vikayakumar and Kartha were unanimous in congratulating the Finance Minister for restricting the budget speech for just one hour.