WITH A footnote on the previous Congress government’s financial mismanagement running through her almost three-hour speech, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Tuesday presented a Rs 99,693-crore annual budget for Rajasthan. With Women’s Day in mind, Raje announced two new schemes for the girl child — Mukhyamantri Rajshri Yojana and Mukhyamantri Saksham Balika Yojana. The former incentivises education of all girls born after June 1, by way of grants or scholarships, while the latter aims at training 1.5 lakh schoolgirls in self-defence. “It is a reform-oriented and all-round budget. We have tried to take care of all the sectors. focused on growth in rural areas, youth, women,” said Raje at a post-budget press conference. The revival of power distribution companies got a major chunk of the proposed plan outlay for 2016-17. Raje projected a fiscal deficit of Rs 43,147 crore or 5.62 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product. The lion’s share of the proposed plan outlay went to social and community services which accounted for Rs 38,102 crore or 38.22 per cent, followed by power at Rs 31,540 crore or 31.64 per cent. New schemes included a “scientific” sportspersons identification programme and a Rs 125 crore Mukhyamantri Swachch Gram Yojana.
