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In order to tame inflation, Mr Gogoi, who is also in charge of the finance department announced abolition of VAT on Rice, flour, semolina, Atta and besan, onion and potato. He also brought down the VAT on jute cloth and other jute products from 12.5 percent to 4 percent.
Mr Gogoi informed that VAT on Soya nuggets and transformers will be brought down from 12.5 percent to 4 percent. “In order to encourage export of tea from Assam, I propose to increase the deduction from 50 paise per kg to Rs 1 per kg of tea from the agricultural income for computation of the agriculture income tax for tea exported through internal container depot (ICD), Amingaon,” he said.
In order to bail out the ailing tea sector, Mr Gogoi proposed to reduce the rate of central sales tax (CST) for tea sold through Guwahati Tea auction centre (GTAC) from one percent to 0.25 percent. In order to ensure quality norms and garner revenue for the exchequer, he proposed to levy cess at the rate of 20 paise per kg of green leaf purchased by the bought-leaf factories. “I propose to raise a development fund from the revenue collected for development of small and marginal tea growers and welfare of tea labourers in unorganized sector and improvement of the quality of Assam tea,” he said.
He also proposed to levy entertainment tax of Rs 25 per month for the Direct to home service. In budget 2008-09, an amount of Rs 827.20 Crore has been earmarked for the implementation of externally aided projects in the state. “I propose to create a dedicated fund for creation of major infrastructure projects in the state. The corpus will be placed at the disposal of a society to be formed in the name and style of Assam infrastructure financing authority,” he said.
Keeping the government employees in good humour, Mr Gogoi said, “I have decided to constitute the next state pay commission after seeing the report of the 6th central pay commission and to give an interim relief of 10 percent of the basic pay and basic pension to all government employees with effect from April 1, 2008,” he said.
With the state facing violent clashes for the Schedule tribe status, the state government has proposed Development councils for six aspiring communities including Moran, Motak, Ahom, Chutia, Koch Rajbonghshi and Tea tribes. The state government has proposed to set up Gorkha development council and a budgetary provision of Rs 12 Crore has been made.
While the chief minister has proposed to increase the allocation for welfare of tea tribes from Rs 10 Crore to Rs 37 Crore, for minority welfare, the state government proposes to spend Rs 7 Crore in 2008-09.
He also announced that a special programme for minorities will be launched and an amount of Rs 25 Crore has been set aside for this purpose. In addition to this an amount of Rs one Crore is proposed for improvement of Madrassa education in the state.
Similarly, for riverine area development an amount of Rs 12.20 Crore will be made available. The government has proposed to create 12 special police stations to deal with offences under the electricity act.
The government has proposed to set up full fledged counter insurgency academy and special task force for counter insurgency operations. Mr Gogoi also announced coaching facilities for educated youths and setting up of an agriculture university and engineering college in Dhubri and Barak valley.
While he termed the budget 2008-09 as a budget for Common men, opposition parties like Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) called it a focus less and direction less financial statement.
Mr Gogoi said, “We have incorporated the concept of outcome budget and gender budget. This budget to me is all inclusive with focus on common men. Our economy is on sound footing and the budget is a reflection of it,” he said.
Leader of opposition, Chandra Mohan Patwary said that the budget has nothing new. “There is nothing for development. It will further increase the loan burden on the people of the state. The government has not stated where it is going to mobilize the resources needed for the deficit budget. The provision for capital expenditure is very less in the budget,” he said.
Secretary Tea association of India, Guwahati, Mr. Dipanjal Deka said that the budgetary provision of reducing the stamp duty on immovable property to 6 percent is a welcome move. However the government did not consider our main demand of withdrawal of cess on green leaf,” he said.
In budget 2008-09 proposals, Mr Gogoi stated, the present rate of stamp duty for registration of immovable property worth Rs one lakh or more is 12 percent. I have decided to reduce it to 6 percent. In case of woman purchasers, I propose to make it even lower and fix the stamp duty at 5 percent.
Mr. Abhijit Barooah, Chairman, Assam State Council, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) while welcoming the budget said that despite setback in tax collection due to High Court order striking down entry tax and reduction in CST rate, the state government coffers seem to be overflowing enabling Mr Gogoi to table a “please-all” budget.
He added that Industries of the State are happy about the provisions of Rs.20 crore to release long pending incentives under State Industrial Policy. “However, we would have been happier if the proposed new State Industrial Policy and the special package for rehabilitation of viable industrial unit under the micro, small and medium enterprises sector would have been spelt out in the budget,” he said.
President of Federation of Industry and Commerce of Northeastern Region (FINER) R.S Joshi said, “Mr Gogoi has managed to put Assam on sound financial footing and the state is going to witness a GSDP of 8 percent in the current year, it is a commendable job. The budget is balanced and has touched every sector of the economy. However like union budget, Mr Gogoi must also initiate the monitoring mechanism,” he said.
Vice-chairman of North eastern tea association, Mr. Bidyananda Barkakoty added that the tea industry’s problem is not given consideration in the budget. “We wanted the roll back of green leaf cess in lines of West Bengal. We have asked the government to halt the recent hike in the land revenue for tea gardens. The imposition of tax of leaf purchased by bought leaf factories will hit the small tea growers hard,” he opined.
AUDF leader, Badruddin Ajmal described it as a hopeless budget with nothing for minorities. “It is an election centric budget, keeping Lok Sabha polls in mind,” he said.
Sunaina
