Kerala Budget 2020: Finance Minister Thomas Isaac presents the Kerala budget in the state legislative Assembly on Friday.
Kerala Budget 2020: Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac Friday presented the state’s budget for the year 2020-21 in the Legislative Assembly. He began his speech with a reference to the ongoing protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. and the resolution passed the House against it. He targeted the Centre for “strangulating” the state by denying it central funds.
In his budget speech, which last nearly two and a half hours, Isaac announced a slew of welfare measures. The state has hiked welfare pensions by Rs 100. It has promised to provide meals at Rs 25 at 1,000 Kudumbashree restaurants across the state. It also said it would build one lakh homes under the LIFE mission.
The Budget comes a day after the state government tabled its Economic Survey 2018-19 in the House, which pegged the state’s GDP at 7.5 per cent, a marginal increase from the previous year’s 7.3 per cent. There was, however, a decline in the agriculture sector, which fell from 1.7 per cent in 2017-18 to (-) 0.5 per cent in 2018-19.
The highest growth rate was recorded in the secondary or industrial sector, where the main push came from manufacturing. According to the Survey, state Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) saw a total turnover of Rs 3,442.74 crore in 2018-19, a 17.9 per cent increase from 2017-18.
“In 2017-18, the contribution from the secondary sector was 27.7 per cent at constant prices and 25 per cent at current prices. Among the sectors, the highest growth was in the secondary sector with 8.8 per cent growth at constant (2011-12) prices followed by tertiary sector (8.4 per cent),” it stated.
Kerala Budget 2020: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (File Photo)
Here is the front page of the Kerala budget document.
Here are some announcements from the Kerala budget we missed:
* A mega food park will come up in a 100-acre plot at a cost of Rs 150 crores
* As part of carbon-neutral Wayanad initiative, 70 lakh trees, including bamboo shoots, will be planted across 6500 hectares.
* 2.5 lakh families to get new drinking water connections.
* The government plans to provide a share of the Provident Fund incentive given to employees, especially women, hired as part of new enterprises. Rs 100 crore allocated for the same.
* Electricity generation will be raised to 500MW.
* West-coast canal, from Bekkal to Kovalam, will be commissioned.
* Production of essential medicines required after organ transplant will begin soon.
* Cleaning of 5000-kms of canals will be completed in next FY
* Construction of 12000 new public toilets.
* Allocations for minority welfare is Rs 42 crores, for OBC welfare is Rs 101 crores, forward communities welfare is Rs 36 crores, differently-abled persons’ welfare is Rs 217 crores and share for local bodies is Rs 290 crores.
* Rs 3 crores allocated to encourage women film directors and Rs 3 crores for encouraging amateur theater groups.
Okay, that was a really long budget speech, even by Thomas Isaac’s standards. He says the budget is in the direction towards accelerating growth and industrial standards while upholding the state’s socialist and welfarist policies. He also makes an important mention, in the backdrop of the CAA protests, to protecting the state’s secular and democratic ideals by quoting a couple of verses from Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel-winning Gitanjali.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac admits that the tax collection under GST has been below expectations of the government. This has been one of the major reasons for the state’s slow revenue growth. The state has also not received the pending GST compensation from the Centre.
The FM says the government will not purchase any new vehicles. Instead, it will hire vehicles on a monthly basis. This is certainly a good announcement, but not sure how practical it is. We’ve seen similar announcements in past budgets, but never really implemented on the ground.
Here are some women-friendly budget announcements by the FM: Rs 6 crore to be allocated for schemes for women fish workers; honorarium for Asha workers to be hiked by Rs 500; Rs 1,509 crore for women-friendly projects; She-lodges to come up in every town.
Thomas Isaac’s budget speeches are known for oft-repeated references to the Malayalam writers and poets. If anybody’s keeping a count, they can read our Malayalam piece on it. From K Satchidanandan to Benyamin, Anwar Ali to OP Suresh, Drupad Goutham to Vinod Vaishakhi, they are all here.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac’s budget speech in the state Assembly has crossed two hours. In case you’re just joining us, here are some highlights on what he has announced:
* All welfare pensions to be hiked by Rs 100
* Rs 1,000 crore allocated for building rural roads
* Rs 90 crore allocated for the welfare of expatriates
* Rs 1,000 crore for the state’s coastal community
* Projects under KIIFB to be completed within stipulated time frame
* District cooperative banks to be merged to form Kerala Bank
* 1,000 hotels to be set up by Kudumbashree to provide meals at Rs 25
* CFL, filament bulbs to be banned from Nov
* Rs 10 crore allocated for 'Nirbhaya homes'
* Rs 323 crore for tourism sector
* Rs 3 crores for Vazhakkulam pineapple farming
* Rice and rubber parks to begin in next fiscal year
* Rs 5 crores for cashew farming
* Rs 20 crores for cashew board
* Rs 28 crores for coir sector
* Rs 20 crores for hunger-free Kerala
One of his pet projects, FM Thomas Isaac says the Champions Boat League (CBL), an IPL-model snake-boat race competition, has proved to be a big success. The inaugural edition was held last year and ace former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was the chief guest. It seems to have bolstered the revenues and earnings of the local snake boat clubs in Alappuzha, Kollam, Kottayam and Ernakulam districts and brought international audiences to it as well. The FM allocates Rs 20 crore for the CBL. To know all about the CBL, read this piece.
Expansion of laboratories in colleges, 1,000 new appointments in public colleges, history museum at the CMS college in Kottayam and 60 new courses are among the key announcements in the allocation of Rs 493 crore for the higher education sector in the state.
The Finance Minister announces that all streetlights across Kerala will be changed to LED. That’s a big and ambitious announcement, I would say. Also, this is in line with the government’s decision to ban filament and CFL bulbs from November 2020. It’s seen as an important step towards energy conservation.
Thomas Isaac says 75 coconut saplings will be distributed in every ward and more value-added products will be derived from coconut. Rs 3 crore will be allocated for pineapple farming in Vazhakkulam. The FM talks of creating villages that are free of barren areas. We have 26 villages currently that are completely non-barren. In the next financial year, we will have integrated rice and rubber parks in the state.
Rs 2,400 crore has been allocated for the Kuttanad region in Alappuzha. As many might know, it was one of the worst-affected areas in the 2018 floods. It’s also one of the few places in the world where farming is done below sea-level. The package is likely to address health, education and farming concerns of the people. Minutes before this, FM Thomas Isaac had announced that Alappuzha, his hometown, would be developed as a heritage town.
One of the key sectors providing revenues for the state government with more potential in the future is the tourism industry. The FM has allocated Rs 323 crore for the sector. He underlines that the Muziris heritage project, in its entirety, will take off in 2021. Also, Alappuzha, the hometown of the finance minister, will be developed as a heritage town.
To understand what the Muziris heritage project is all about, click here to read my travel piece.
In the third phase of LIFE, we will provide 40,000 homes to fishermen families, says FM Thomas Isaac. Work on 10 apartment complexes has begun. We will have she-lodges in every district for travelling single women. Rs 10 crore has been allocated for ‘Nirbhaya homes’, though it’s not clear whom these homes are aimed at. Again, we’ll have to look at the fine-print to know more.
In the last budget, the government envisaged a scheme to make Kerala hunger-free. Under the leadership of Kudumbashree, the FM says the government will start from April 2020 onwards 1,000 restaurants which will provide meals at Rs 25 each. The government will also strike to declare the areas of Cherthala and Ambalapuzha hunger-free, the FM adds. With the help of sponsors, the government will try to provide meals at Re 1 at select hotels to those who cannot afford to buy food.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac announces that the manufacturing of CFL and filament bulbs will be stopped and the use of such bulbs will be banned from November this year. He said the state needs to move on to LED bulbs.
FM Thomas Isaac has flagged the formation of Kerala Bank by merging all the district cooperative banks and making the banking system easier and transparent for the people of the state.
As always, we have our sister Malayalam site giving minute-by-minute updates on Thomas Isaac’s budget presentation in the local language. You can follow them here.
While presenting the Kerala budget, the FM cites developments in the Kochi Metro project. An extension from the JLN stadium to the IT hub of Kakkanad is on the anvil. Also, the Water Metro project, linking islands to the city, will take off at the end of 2020.
The semi high-speed train project, named Silver Line, linking the northern and southern end points of Kerala is one of the government’s flagship projects. Finance Minister Thomas Isaac says while the aerial surveys have been completed, land acquisition will begin shortly after the nod from the Railways. The project will not only boost the state’s transportation sector but also provide jobs to thousands during the construction and implementation phases. Integrated townships will also be built along the corridor. The project will be funded with the help of international lending agencies.
Read our explainer on how the end-to-end railway line can help Kerala
The FM announces that Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) will spend upto Rs 20,000 crore for infra projects in the state. A total of 20 flyovers, 74 bridges and 44 stadiums will be built. Drinking water projects at a cost of Rs 4,383 crores will be implemented with the help of KIIFB as well.
The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the LDF government’s flagship institution formed to mobilise funds for infrastructure development, is once again Isaac’s favourite vehicle to get key projects going. He cites all the major projects the state has undertaken in the past year that have been sanctioned by KIIFB funds. He says all the projects sanctioned by KIIFB have already begun. The challenge before us is how to complete these projects in a time-bound manner without cost-overruns, he adds.
Kerala's Finance Minister has allocated Rs 1,000 crore for building rural roads, Rs 90 crore for the welfare of expatriates and Rs 1,000 crore for the state’s coastal community. It’s not clear if there are specific schemes or projects this money would go to. We’ll have to look at the fine print for such details. Also, we’ll have to go back to the last budget to see if the allocations have been slashed for these key sectors.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac boasts that the LDF government in the last four years has spent double the money the previous UDF government in its five years spent on welfare pensions. He makes the big announcement that all welfare pensions like old age, widow etc have been hiked by Rs 100. The beneficiaries will now receive Rs 1,300 per month.
It’s no secret that Thomas Isaac, an economist, is also an avid literature geek. All of his budgets, presented over the years, have been rich with references to the literary giants of Kerala and abroad. This budget is no exception. In the first few minutes itself, we’ve listened to his references to the poems and prose of writers like Benyamin and Prabha Varma.
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac stands to present the state budget for the year 2020-21. He begins by referring to the protests against the new citizenship law. He says the future of the country lies in the hands of the thousands of young men and women who held torches and banners as they agitated against the controversial legislation. He also speaks about the brief united protest that was held by the UDF and LDF coalitions in Kerala against CAA.
Ahead of the budget presentation, we analysed the state government's budget allocation in the health and family welfare sector over the last five years to find it is higher than the average allocation of other states in India. According to data from PRS Legislative Research, while Kerala allocated an average of 5.6 per cent of the budget in the sector, the average state spending was 5.3 per cent. On the education front, Kerala has equalled the average state spending of 16 per cent.
Hello, and welcome to our blog on the Kerala budget. At 9 am, state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac will present the budget in the Legislative Assembly. It comes a day after the Pinarayi Vijayan government released the Economic Survey 2018-19, which showed high growth rate in the state despite the country's economic slowdown. Follow our live blog as we give you live updates on the budget.