Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today hailed the state budget 2016-17, which was presented by the Finance Minister Mr. Parminder Singh Dhindsa in the state Vidhan Sabha, as balanced, growth oriented, futuristic and pro-people budget aimed at giving boost to the ongoing initiatives to ensure overall development of all sections of society especially the weaker and underprivileged ones besides propelling growth and prosperity in the agriculture sector.In a statement issued here, the Chief Minister said that the Finance Minister had done a commendable job by ensuring the well being of each and every strata of society by laying special thrust on those belonging to weaker sections. He patted the Finance Minister for designing slew of bold initiatives in consonance with the guiding philosophy of Well Being of entire humanity (Sarbat Da Bhala) to achieve the ultimate goal of inclusive development of all sections of our society. Mr. Badal commended a bold initiative to set up SC scholarship fund with a corpus of Rs 100 crore, which would be given to universities and colleges and institutes on behalf of all SC students who intend to pursue higher studies at time of admission. He described it as a land mark initiative to strengthen the base of human resource development amongst the unprivileged sections of the society thereby affording an opportunity to these economically weaker students to chart their career.
The Chief Minister said that decision to embark upon ‘Swasth Kanya Yojna’, establish 638 new Anganwari centres and 20 mini Anganwari centres, accord top priority to the women safety by constituting special women patrolling teams and set up of ‘Nanhi Chaan Skill Centers’ in rural areas for training of women was a step forward towards women empowerment. Mr. Badal also said that the decision to introduce Vidya Channel would also help in spreading the light of knowledge in every nook and corner of the state.The Chief Minister also patted Mr. Dhindsa for providing healing touch to the farmers of the state by introducing interest free crop loan scheme for the small and marginal farmers thereby benefitting over 10 lakh farmers in the state. He said that an allocation of Rs 7490 crore for agriculture and allied activities in the current budget would certainly give impetus to the agriculture research besides promoting allied farming activities to transform the destiny of beleaguered peasantry of the state.
Likewise, Mr. Badal said that the decision to introduce a new Farmers Provident Fund cum Pension Scheme was a historic initiative aimed at safeguarding the interests of farming community. He also expressed happiness of budgetary provision of Rs 20 crore for setting up Kisan Vikas Chamber in Mohali to give absolute say to farmers related with agriculture and allied farming activities.The Chief Minister also lauded the budgetary proposal to develop 200 smart villages during the current fiscal, which would be provided with facilities like 4G connectivity, solar street lights, sewa kendras, sewerage and drainage facilities, bank branch and model school etc. Mr. Badal said that it was a matter of great pleasure that a budgetary allocation of Rs 50 crore has been earmarked for the commemoration of 350th birth anniversary of tenth Sikh master Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He also appreciated a unique initiative to promote Punjabi culture, language and heritage by abolishing entertainment tax on cultural, musical and theatre shows and films. Mr. Badal also welcomed the decision to make it mandatory for very theatre in Punjab to show at least one Punjabi film in the day, which would go a long way in promotion of Punjabi art and culture.