Finance Minister of Tripura, Pranajit Singha Roy placed State Budget 2023-24 in the Assembly on July 7 last. As expected, the ruling BJP MLAs and leaders are all in praise while the Opposition Parties are focusing on the shortcomings in the budget.
How was the budget or how much realistic the proposals are in terms of fund allocations is a matter of discussion and debate.
Staying off the debate, if one carefully pays attention to Roy’s Budget 2023-24 speech, it would reveal some unique and salient features which would have far-reaching impacts on society.
In a fast-evolving global scenario, the Budget 2023-24, at least, made some moves to break away from the conventional path and introduced some features which would help broaden people’s mindsets and thought processes.
The most important proposal of Tripura State Budget 2023-24 was ‘CM-Jana Aarogya Yojana 2023 (CM-JAY) – a universal health insurance scheme on the pattern of Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY of the Central government. The CM-JAY will cover the remaining 4.75 lakh families in the State and provide insurance benefits up to Rs 5 lakh per annum per family. State government employees will also be covered and the State Government will spend about Rs 59 cr per annum.
Apart from this health for-all proposal, another crucial proposal was that the State Government would launch the ‘Tripura Agniveer Programme’ in Higher Secondary schools to boost youth participation in Agnipath Scheme to serve the nation. This proposal can be hailed as a step forward in providing job-oriented programme in schools.
Looking at OBC welfare, the Budget proposed a new Scheme – ‘Mukhyamantri Akankshsa Scheme’ – with an outlay of Rs 1 crore to help OBC students to prepare for different competitive examinations like IAS, IPS and IFS etc during the FY 2023-24.
Of course, one may argue, the fund is insufficient – but again, if the scheme clicks, Government is expected to arrange adequate funds for this scheme in future.
Two other far-reaching proposals are – 1st, the State Government will launch the Tripura State Policy for Empowerment of Divyanga In line with the Tripura State Policy for Empowerment of Women 2022, for their holistic development and empowerment. 2nd, The Finance Minister also said, State Government will soon formulate a comprehensive policy to support Transgender persons for their socio-economic development.
Singha Roy also proposed to launch a new mission, Mukhyamantri Tribal Development Mission for comprehensive development of tribal areas with a focus on Education, health, roads, Nutrition, sanitation and drinking water services and Rs 30 crore was allotted in the Budget 2023-24 which will also provide free education and accommodation for the deserving ST students in top ranking Indian Universities.
Lack of marketing facility is cited as one of the prime reasons behind the slow growth of the State’s own non-tax revenue which is estimated to be only 1.66 per cent. To create a marketing opportunity, a Unity Mall will be constructed with an outlay of about Rs 100 crore at Agartala to display and sell unique products of Tripura and other states.
Drone technology and Artificial Intelligence are the buzzwords for Gen Z. The Budget spoke about both of these terms and within its limited capacity attempted to accommodate those in the Budget.
A new scheme, Mukhyamantri Dakhyata Unnayan Prakalpa’ with an outlay of Rs 50 crore for the next five years was proposed. The new project will have job-market-oriented skill development in sectors like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Drone Technology, Smart Agriculture and Smart City services in addition to traditional trades.
Moreover, apart from skilling in AI, the Budget proposes the use of AI for good governance. Singha Roy proposed to set up a Centre of Excellence in AI with an investment of Rs 5 crore. The Centre of Excellence will help the State Government use AI to effectively implement policies and provide services in areas like health, education, energy, agriculture and urban affairs in the State.
Another interesting proposal is related to Satellite Town.
To meet the ever-increasing demand for urbanization, the Finance Minister proposed to launch a new scheme – Mukhyamantri Satellite Town Development Scheme – to develop new satellite towns at Agartala, Udaipur and Dharmanagar with an investment of over Rs 500 crore in the next 5 years and a token Rs 10 crore was kept in the Budget to start preliminary works during the FY 2023-24.
