Guwahati: The state administration led by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in the Assam Budget Session 2023 has made five significant announcements with an emphasis on the empowerment of women, government workers, the education sector, religious organisations, etc.
The deficit budget for the fiscal year 2023–24 was unveiled by Assam’s finance minister, Ajanta Neog on Thursday before the parliament.
Orunodoi Entitlement Enhanced:
Finance minister Ajanta Neog on Thursday announced that the state government has decided to further enhance the Orunodoi entitlement by Rs 150, thus, making it Rs 1,400 per beneficiary per month by the end of this financial year.
Orunodoi scheme which was launched by the state government has been a great help for millions in the state to combat poverty. Under this scheme, the monthly benefits have been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,250 from October 2022 benefitting more than 17 lakh households.
The state Government had rolled out “Orunodoi 2.0” on December 14, 2022 with a very inclusive set of guidelines.
Special Focus on Women Empowerment:
The Assam Budget 2023 placed further emphasis on female entrepreneurship by focusing on the potential already there in Self Help Group (SHG) women. Every SHG-affiliated women will be inspired by this to change into home-based business owners.
The state government will make sure each SHG member gets her own bank account to get the process started.
“We will disburse Rs 1000 into all such bank accounts of SHG members to incentivise her to maintain an active bank account and to develop business project proposal. If the project is approved, the woman will get Rs 10,000 in subsequent year to develop her business into a successful home-based enterprise. All these payments would be done through DBT. Through this initiative, we plan to develop 30 lakh women entrepreneurs in the State,” said Neog while presenting the budget today.
Not only this, there are around 1,13,820 widows (beneficiaries) who receive National Widow Pension with entitlement of Rs 300 per month.
“The state government will verify these beneficiaries and if already not covered under Orunodoi, all such beneficiaries will be provided a top-up of Rs 950 per month to provide them total amount of Rs 1250 per month,” added Minister Ajanta Neog in her budget speech.
‘Apun Bahan’ Scheme Introduced for Government Employees:
The state government has created the “Apun Bahan” programme for its employees, which entitles workers to a 2% interest subsidy on car loans. According to Ajanta Neog, this will be increased to 3% for women and divyangjan employees.
For the aforementioned programme, a sum of Rs 12 crore has been requested.
Construction and Upgradation of universities:
In the education sector, the department has taken up the works for construction of seven new universities at Hojai, Bajali, Narayanpur, Golaghat, Chabua, Majuli and Jorhat and upgrade eight universities – Sibsagar college, Kokrajhar Government college, Bongaigaon college, Jagannath Barooah College in Jorhat, North Lakhimpur College, Handique Girl’s college, Nagaon College and Gurucharan college in Silchar into universities by introducing enabling legislations.
At the same time, a new University by the name- Shahid Kanaklata Barua State University will be established at Gohpur, as a tribute to great freedom fighter of Assam and to further improve the standards of higher education in the North Bank. A satellite campus of Bodoland University will also be established in Udalguri.
There will be a total provision of around Rs 1,200 crore for building infrastructure.
Rs 15 Lakh each to Religious Institutions:
The redesigned Assam Darshan programme will give each of the historic religious buildings, including Namghars, Mandirs, Mosques, Churches and Gurudwaras a sum of Rs 15 lakh. This programme has been given a budget of Rs 180 crore. 130 of these institutions had previously received Rs 10 lakh each from the state government.
Also, the state government has undertaken efforts to preserve almost 8000 new Namghars in current fiscal year under the Assam Darshan scheme in order to preserve the cultural history and legacy.
Also, the state government will grant a fund of Rs 2.5 lakh per institution for religious organisations that see more tourists and have regular festivals.
In previous budgets, the state government had included measures for the upkeep and preservation of Batadrava Than and Madhabdev’s birthplace at Narayanapur. These locations’ construction projects will be finished this year.