Sushil Modi presents #BiharBudget2018 citing special focus on education and infrastructure

Bihar, February 28: Amid noisy ruckus by opposition over the budget, Bihar deputy chief minister and finance minister Sushil Kumar Modi presented a revenue-surplus budget of Rs. 1.76 trillion for the next fiscal. The budget however gives focus and special attention on education and infrastructure. 

 

Allocating Rs 10,257 crores in education sector, the State Finance Minister has given importance to road and energy sectors giving top priority in the financial year 2018-19 as both have been proposed maximum allocation of Rs 17,397 crores. Mr Sushil Modi said that allocation of Rs 7,793.82 crores had been proposed for health sector while Rs 10,188.54 crores would be spent for social welfare.

The budget has allowed the goods and services tax (GST) impacted on the state government's own tax revenue, which withered by an estimated Rs 40 billion in the current fiscal.

 

On the other hand, no new taxes were announced in the budget speech of the Deputy CM, which was drowned out by the constant protests by opposition members. Out of the total budget of Rs 1.76 trillion, the finance minister had estimated that almost Rs 805 billion will be spent on salary, pension, interest and repayment of loans, whereas more than Rs 923 billion would use to meet planned expenditure.

 

The state government set an ambitious target of providing electricity to every household in the state before the end of the calendar year. The government has also announced that six major bridge projects on Gandak, Ganga, Sone and Kosi rivers would be operational in this year. The state government would also construct boundry walls for temples in the Bihar with an estimated Rs 300 million.

 

On the receipts front, the state government calculated that it would receive Rs 761.72 billion as its share of central taxes, whereas it would earn almost Rs 355 billion from its own revenue.

However the State’s budget has been slumped by Rs 10 billion. Adding to the efforts taken by he government over creating the budget for state, Sushil Modi added that they have made the budget more realistic this year. The budget would be able to earn around Rs. 200 billion in commercial taxes, whereas Rs 30 billion would come as compensation. He also estimates that Rs 464.31 billion would come as in grants-in-aid from central government in the next financial year.