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Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presented a ‘zero tax budget’ Monday aimed at rationalising Delhi’s Value Added Tax (VAT) structure. The budget implies cheaper sweets, namkeen, watches, readymade garments, shoes and school bags, even as the government continues to focus on education, health and transport sectors.
Sisodia, who also holds the Finance portfolio presented a Rs 46,600 crore annual budget, with plan expenditure at Rs 20,600 crore, of which Rs 4,645 crore (23 per cent) was allocated to education, Rs 3,943 crore (19 per cent) to transport and Rs 3,200 crore (15 per cent) to health sector. Read more.
The AAP government’s second budget aims to slash Value-Added Tax (VAT) rates on several items this year in a bid to increase the tax net in Delhi. The decision to slash VAT rates on at least eight items raised eyebrows, considering that 65 per cent of Delhi government’s revenue stream for development stems from VAT collections.
In his budget speech Friday, Sisodia said his taxation proposals were founded on four principles — maintain the distributive character of Delhi’s trade, simplification of the existing system and promoting ease of doing business, simplifying the structure to avoid manipulation and keep a uniform rate with neighbouring states. Read more.
The AAP government has failed to deliver on any of its promises and its budget for 2016-17 is an attempt to mislead people, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta tells Pragya kaushik.
How would you rate this year’s budget?
The budget is an utter disappointment. The government has reduced the plan outlay… the budget is meant to mislead people. This is an eyewash as the government has not been able to deliver on any of its promises. Read more.
While the AAP government initiated the demolition of south Delhi’s BRT corridor built by the erstwhile Congress administration, Finance Minister Manish Sisodia Monday announced that the government will construct two elevated BRT corridors for east-west and north-south connectivity.
In his budget speech, Sisodia announced that a 29-km east-west elevated BRT corridor will be built from Anand Vihar Terminal to Peeragarhi and a 24-km north-south elevated BRT corridor will stretch from Wazirabad to the airport. Read more.
The education sector once again received majority of the funds in this year’s budget, with Finance Minister Manish Sisodia proposing a total expenditure of Rs 10,690 crore. This is 22.55 per cent of the total budget and an increase of 8.68 per cent from last year.
While the previous budget focused on development of quality infrastructure, improvement in quality of learning is the main focus area this year. For this, the government has given a boost to skill development and teacher training. Read more.
Reiterating its focus on healthcare and ensuring that medical facilities are easily accessible to all, the Delhi government has allocated Rs 5,259 crore to the sector in the 2016-17 budget. This marks a jump of nearly 10 per cent from last year.
The three-tier strategy adopted by the government focuses on setting up 1,000 mohalla clinics and 150 polyclinics across the capital in the next one year — a move aimed at bringing primary healthcare to the “doorstep of citizens”. Read more.
Two weeks before the second phase of its flagship odd-even scheme kicks off, the AAP government allocated a major portion of budget funds to transport and road infrastructure, to encourage measures to curb pollution in Delhi and decongest its roads.
“I propose a plan outlay of Rs 1,735 crore for enhancement of public transport, which is 8.4 percent of the total plan outlay in 2016-17 and Rs 2,208 crore for road infrastructure, which is 11 per cent of the total plan outlay in 2016-17,” said Finance Minister Manish Sisodia. Read more.
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