Finance Minister Ajanta Neog in her opening lines of the Budget speech for the fiscal year 2023-2024 cited the concept of development in the words of an economist stating that only when a country experiences a reduction or elimination of poverty, inequality, and employment, can real development be achieved. Although the nitty-gritty of a Budget is too complex an exercise to comprehend, one can state that the Budget tabled in the Assam Assembly is geared towards achieving the above stated objective.
While presenting a deficit Budget for the coming year, the Finance Minister has rightly refrained from imposing any taxes on the people, who are fighting rising inflation and a hazy global economy because of external factors beyond the control of the Government of any country. Yet, she has managed to steer clear of the general proclivity of spending less to chart a conservative course.
She has set a target of 5.5 lakh cr GSDP as against 3.93 lakh cr GSDP in the year 2021-2022. The figure reflects that Government capital expenditure is rising and rising rapidly, besides its welfare spending. It is a fact that in States like Assam, and for that matter of the region, the Government continues to be a major driver of the economy. The budgetary outlay of ₹ 1.39 lakh cr for 2023-2024 is aimed at a continuation of this unstated policy. In due course when the private sector starts taking more initiatives, this Government spending will automatically take a course correction and, in turn, will complement the former, an ideal scenario in job creation and achieving real development.
In the recent past Assam has done significantly well in key HDI parameters while there are areas which require attention.
The finer print of the Budget this year is clearly aimed at addressing them. All said and done, it will be extremely important for the Government to ensure that what has been earmarked in the Budget is generated productively and spent with the right objective.
