Himachal Pradesh CM's populist outreach in election year budget, no taxes, hike in old-age pension

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday presented a tax-free budget, or what also can be referred to as the last budget of his tenure as CM. The budget, amounting to Rs 51,365 crores, has seen an emphasis on social security.

Shimla:Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday presented a tax-free budget, or what also can be referred to as the last budget of his tenure as CM. The budget, amounting to Rs 51,365 crores, has seen an emphasis on social security.

Apart from no new tax proposal, the budget saw old-age pension being increased to Rs 1,500 while bringing down the minimum age of pension to 60 years.

The highest allocation in the budget was made to the education sector, in the form of Rs 8,412 crore. Apart from this, a budget provision of Rs 2752 crore has been made for the health sector, as well as Rs 583 crore for the agriculture sector.

The move, significantly, comes ahead of the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections in November 2022. Despite no correlation, furthermore, Karnataka's annual budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year also saw a similar zero tax hike on Friday.

The increased honorarium for Anganwadi workers and helpers, skill trainers, SPO, and other such categories of workers is being seen largely as social outreach by the Thakur administration. 1000 new Anganwadi centers have also been announced across Himachal Pradesh.

Those who were eligible for pension will have their monthly allocations increased from Rs 1500 to Rs 1700. Men between the age of 60 and 69 years will also be getting old age pension without any income limit.

Thakur announced a hike in pension of destitute women from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,150, for those between 60 to 79 years up from Rs 850 to Rs 1,100 and for those above 70 years and disabled from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,700. He said Rs 1,300 crore would be spent in the budget on providing social security pension to 7.50 lakh for eligible persons.

The chief minister hiked the grant given for widow remarriage from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. He announced Rs 5 crore for creating livelihood for urban youth while a Bill will be tabled in the assembly for fixing eligibility criteria.

Cow cess on liquor will be increased by Re 1 per bottle, he added.

Talking about health, the chief minister declared to create 500 new posts of doctors in the state.

Thakur announced that a provision would be made whereby the Himcare Card for availing free health services for various ailments would be required to be renewed after three years instead of every year.

The honorarium for Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and councilors in Municipal Corporations has been increased from Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000, from Rs. 8,500 to Rs. 10,000 and from Rs. 5050 to Rs. 6,050 per month respectively, he added.

With agency inputs