The Chhattisgarh Cabinet is likely to meet on February 27 at the Mantralaya to provide a final shape to the State Budget 2015-16, highly placed official sources here informed.
The more-than-a-month-long Budget Session of Chhattisgarh Assembly is scheduled to commence from March 2 and will conclude on April 7.
The proposals for Annual Budget for financial year 2015-16 are already under preparation with several meetings being held in the Mantralaya, sources informed.
The Chhattisgarh Cabinet which met on February 19 has already dealt on several issues including approval and finalization of demand proposals for the State Budget 2015-16 besides according approval of the Governor’s Budget Speech, sources informed.
The budget size for the current financial year was Rs54,701 crore which may grow at least by 10 per cent in the State Budget 2015-16 considering the positive signs on expected Central support for various schemes, sources stated.
Meanwhile, it may be worth mentioning that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has written to all state governments while informing of the the Union Government’s decision to wholeheartedly accept the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.
The Prime Minister in his letter stated : “I sincerely believe that strong states are the foundation of a strong India. Even as Chief Minister, I had been saying that the progress of the country depends on the progress of states. This Government is, therefore, committed to the idea of empowering states in all possible ways. We also believe that states should be allowed to chalk out their programmes and schemes with greater financial strength and autonomy, while observing financial prudence and discipline.”
We are clear that without this, local development needs cannot be met and marginalised communities and backward regions cannot be brought into the mainstream, Modi said. With this in mind, we have replaced the Planning Commission with the NITI Aayog with the explicit intent of ensuring that this becomes a common forum for forging a national vision on development. Such a vision and the concrete steps that all of us take will help in realising the development aspirations of our people, he said.
It is in this context that we have wholeheartedly accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, although it puts a tremendous strain on the Centre’s finances, he said. The 14th Finance Commission has recommended a record increase of 10% in the devolution of the divisible pool of resources to states. This compares with the marginal increases made by previous Finance Commissions. The total devolution to states in 2015-16 will be significantly higher than in 2014-15, Modi said.
This naturally leaves far less money with the Central Government. However, we have taken the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission in a positive spirit as they strengthen your hand in designing and implementing schemes as per your priorities and needs, the Prime Minister said.
You will appreciate that, following the acceptance of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations, we are moving away from rigid centralised planning, forcing a ‘One size fits all’ approach on states. States have always been voicing their opposition to this philosophy for years. Accepting these long standing concerns and long-felt lacunae in the country’s planning process, our Government has decided to devolve maximum money to states and allow them the required freedom to plan the course of states’ development. The additional 10% of resources being devolved will give you this freedom, he stated in the letter , he said
In this overall context, when you are flush with resources, I would like you to have a fresh look at some of the erstwhile schemes and programmes supported by the Centre. States are free to continue or change these schemes and programmes as per their discretion and requirement, the Prime Minister said.
In all these, the Union Government, particularly the NITI Aayog, will support states in developing a strategy and in its execution through ideas, knowledge and technology, he said. In addition, we have recently revised the rates of royalty on minerals which benefits many states. The ongoing transparent auction of coal and other minerals will result in flow of over Rs1 lakh crore of additional funds to mineral and coal bearing states. Eastern India, which is less developed in spite of having immense mineral resources, is an important gainer and this is an opportunity for this part to catch up with the rest of the country, he said.