Karnataka - Bangalore

Karnataka budget presented

BANGALORE: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa in his third consecutive budget presented to the Legislative Assembly on Thursday has stood by several of the promises made to the people by the Bharatiya Janata Party during the run-up to the Assembly elections, including free supply of power for irrigation pumpsets and a further reduction in interest rate on farm loans extended by cooperative institutions.

The revised budget for the year, with the vote-on-account budget having been presented to the Lok Sabha by the Union finance Minister P. Chidambaram during the President’s Rule in the State, categorically reflects the independent authority that Mr. Yeddyurappa has enjoyed in its preparation unlike the earlier two budgets when the BJP was a part of the Janata Dal(S)-led coalition government. In a way, the budget is populist with the announcement of a string of schemes and programmes, and with hardly any fresh taxes.

Free power supply to irrigation pumpsets up to 10 hp will be made available to farmers from August 1 and consequently, the power subsidy bill of the government is expected to increase to Rs. 2,050 crore.

The farm loan interest rates have been reduced by one per cent from the prevailing 4 per cent.

The government has announced a one-time payment of Rs. 1,000 a family (small farmer) to purchase farm inputs.

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