Covid-19 main focus in Kerala’s revised budget

Thiruvananthapuram Kerala finance minister K N Balagopal on Friday presented the maiden budget of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government, announcing a second Covid-19 stimulus package of ₹20,000 crore and setting aside ₹1,000 crore to vaccinate all above 18 years of age in tune with the government’s pre-poll promise that vaccines will be made free to all residents of the state

Thiruvananthapuram Kerala finance minister K N Balagopal on Friday presented the maiden budget of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government, announcing a second Covid-19 stimulus package of ₹20,000 crore and setting aside ₹1,000 crore to vaccinate all above 18 years of age in tune with the government’s pre-poll promise that vaccines will be made free to all residents of the state.

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An additional amount of ₹500 crore would be spent to ensure related equipment and facilities for free vaccination, the minister announced.

No new tax was suggested in view of the pandemic.

Presenting the revised budget, Balagopal said the government would ensure food for all and would do everything possible to avert a third wave of the pandemic. He added that money would not be a constraint and that new sources of revenue would be found once the pandemic situation improved.

“We will consider the concerns over the third wave of the pandemic. The health emergency existing is a challenge to the development prospects of the state,” he said.

“Money won’t be a constraint in meeting the health needs of the people. We will do everything possible to avert a possible third wave,” he added.

The previous government had allotted ₹20,000 crore which had been fully utilised to fight the pandemic, he said.

From the new Covid-19 relief package, ₹2,800 crore was allocated for emergency health situations and ₹8,900 crore for distribution among those who lost their livelihood. An amount of ₹8,300 crore was announced towards interest subsidy for loans provided to various sectors to tide over the crisis.

Besides this, the finance minister also announced a revival package for coastal areas and aid for the successful women-oriented poverty eradication programme ‘Kudumbhasree’.

Balagopal’s predecessor T M Thomas Issac had presented a full budget in February and the one announced on Friday was a mere continuation of his proposals.

“Those budget proposals will continue.We have made some additions to that considering the Covid-19 situation and to boost the economy of the state.Health is our priority, then food.After that we need to revive our economy and for that we need more jobs. In order to achieve that, our aim is to give thrust to the agriculture, industries, tourism, IT, knowledge economy sectors,” Balagopal told reporters later in the day.

The minister said several foreign countries have vaccinated their people and their economies are open.

“If people are vaccinated, tourists will show interest in visiting our state.If all are vaccinated at the earliest, we can revive our economy.For that purpose we have allocated ₹1,000 crore for vaccines and ₹500 crore for related purposes,” he said.

The opposition called the budget a “sly jugglery of figures sans any substance.”

“It is a mere jugglery of figures to hoodwink people. The government has made no fund allocation in the budget to boost the Covid-damaged economy. And it has no idea how to increase its revenue,” leader of the opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan said.

BJP state chief K Surendran termed the budget as a disappointment and said the state government was renaming and implementing the central projects.

“The financial assistance of ₹20,000 crore package which was announced in the last year’s budget was repeated this time.....the finance minister should explain how much money was spent for what purpose from that package,” he said.

The two main revenue earners of the state, liquor and lottery, are currently in limbo due to the pandemic. The state beverages corporation, which runs foreign-made Indian liquor outlets, had recently said that it had suffered a loss of ₹1,000 crore in the last two months.

The state has been under lockdown since April 7.