The jobless youths in Uttarakhand may have to be more patient for getting unemployment allowance as the Congress government is unlikely to make separate provisions for the doles in the budget for the year 2012-13 which would be presented by the end of this month in the state assembly.
After taking a vote on account for Rs 7,018.65 crore in March for four months, chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has asked the finance ministry to present the budget in the month of May itself in order to see a clear financial picture of the hill state which he has already described as “financially sick”.
Big worry before Bahuguna and finance minister Indira Hridayesh will be to make separate budgetary provisions for unemployment doles as being promised by Congress in its election manifesto. “The chief minister is not happy with the financial position of the state as the non-plan expenditure is rising. In such a scenario, it is unlikely that a separate budgetary provision for unemployment doles will ever be worked out in the budget,” said a top government official.
In its election manifesto, the Congress had promised to given an unemployment allowance of Rs 750-1,500 to unemployed youths depending upon their education qualification.
The state assembly on March 29 passed a vote on account of Rs 7,018.65 crore for four months period with the government saying the financial health of the state was not good owing to ballooning non-plan expenditure and debts. Bahuguna has gone record to admit that the non-plan expenditure has zoomed to Rs 13,000 crore out of the total budget outlay of Rs 21,000 crore.
Though the finance department has begun an exercise to prepare the budget, top officials said the government will face a difficulty in making separate budgetary provisions as the revenue and fiscal deficits are to be kept within the prescribed norms of the FRBM Act.
On the other hand, priorities like creating jobs and increase tax revenue are high on the government’s agenda. New chief secretary Alok Kumar Jain has already given instructions to the officers to keep in mind the priorities of the government while preparing budget proposals.
Jain, who became new chief secretary early this week, said that the budget session is likely to begin from May 28.
