core sector communique

The budget is a trend-setting document for the Rural Development Ministry, says Jairam

Union Minister for Rural Development Shri Jairam Ramesh has lauded the General Budget and described it as a trend setting budget as far as his Ministry is concerned. Talking to mediapersons here after the presentation of the budget, he said, the overall allocation for all Rural Development Schemes has been enhanced from 91,000 crore rupees to 99,000 crore rupees this fiscal, which is only next to the Defence allocation. The budget for Drinking Water and Sanitation has been increased from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 14,000 crore, which the Finance Minister promised to enhance by another 1,000 crore rupees in the revised estimate in November this year. He said, sanitation was mentioned for the first time in the budget twice and even drinking water and the quality of water gets a priority. He informed that a world Class Water Quality Research Centre will be established at Rajarhaat near Kolkata for which land was already sanctioned by the State Government. The Centre’s primary objective will be do deal with arsenic problem in drinking water which is not only a serious issue in West Bengal but in the entire Gangetic belt. Similarly, PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana) witnessed a huge increase in the allocation from Rs 20,000 crore last year to 24,000 crore rupees in this fiscal. The Minister said, the additional 4,000 crore rupees will be utilised to build all weather roads in backward states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and West Bengal. Sh Ramesh felt happy over the fact that the budget for National Social Assisstance Programme(NSAP) saw a huge jump from Rs 6100 crore to Rs 8382 crore and also the pension amount for widows and persons with disabilities was increased from 200 rupees per month to 300 rupees per month. Similarly,Women Self Help Groups in the Aajeevika Project will now have to pay less interest on loans. If they pay back in time, the rate of interest will be 4%, for others it will be 7%. The budget for National Rural Livelihood Mission, NRLM now stands at 3,915 crore rupees in comparison to last year’s 2914 crore rupees. There is also a renewed focus on Indira Aawas Yojana (IAY) and the budget for same has been increased from 9,000 crore rupees to 10,000 crore rupees. The Minister underlined that the Finance Minister has accepted all the recommendations of the RD Ministry in the budget and he expressed his gratitude to Sh Pranab Mukherji for this.