Any finance minister who comes up with a budget gets brickbats and bouquets as rewards. However good the budget is, the Opposition team will oppose it tooth and nail and those in the ruling side will shower praises on the minister.

Whatever it is, the budget presented by State Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in Assembly today was the one that suits the current circumstances in Kerala when we take into account its present precarious financial state.

Isaac came out with the claim that the budget will be the one for rebuilding of Kerala. The structure of the budget touches all sectors and in the budget, there is an attempt to salvage Kerala from it post-flood tragic state.

Usually, new tax recommendations are made in the budget but the finance minister is expecting to generate more revenue by levying one percent flood cess apart from the GST.

Through the cess, the State will earn Rs 1600 crore every year. The cess will be applicable for two years. Because of the cess, the price of almost all products will increase.

There will be cricitism that the government is getting ready to increase prices of everything in order to achieve an additional income of Rs 1600.

In the State budget which expects Rs 1,15,354 crore revenue income, Rs 1600 that earned through Cess will be a very small amount.

As the price of soap and comb to posh vehicles that comes under 12, 18, 28 tax slabs is set to rise, there will be criticism that the budget will set off price rise.

According to statistics, there are arrears of Rs 4000 crore in the collection of GST revenue. Even if half of this amount had been collected, the Cess could have been done away with. Usually, it is the common people who have to pay for the apathy shown by the government in collecting revenues.

25 projects to the tune of Rs 39807 crore have been included in the budget for building new Kerala. This is Rs 7243 crore more than that allotted for the current financial year. Though the fund earmarked is being increased, the main problem is that the fund doesn’t get utilised before it lapses.

In current financial, not even half the amount set apart for various projects has been utilised. The reports regarding this came out just the other day. In the current financial year, what is left is just two months. The laziness of the government in implementing a project finally affects people who should have been its beneficiaries.

The budget recommendations given today are the ones that can fill important sectors like basic infrastructure, health, employment, business, and education with new energy.

There are special projects for acquiring lands for new IT parks and development of existing ones. Rs 15600 crore has been set apart for this. The expectation is that as and when the park is fully developed, one lakh new persons will get jobs.

Rs 1000 crore project for flood-battered Kuttanad is heart-warming. Canals and culverts for flooding waters will be widened; Thottapally Spillway will be renovated. Backwaters and canals will be cleared of garbage. Modern plants will be established for deposing toilet wastes.

Kuttanad, one of the granaries, will be brought back to its old prowess. However, the government and officials will have to sweat it out a lot to realise the budget declaration that the area of paddy fields in Kerala will be expanded to three lakh hectare.
About two to three decades ago, Kerala had nine lakh hectare of paddy fields.

A good budget allocation is there for development of coastal areas (roads, hospitals), welfare of fish workers and improvement of health sector. This will fulfil the requirements of a huge chunk of human population.

The sector of non-traditional source of energy that made forays into the State very late also got some consideration this time. For instance, electric buses will be introduced widely in the State soon.

Another gratifying announcement is that Kovalam-Bekal waterway will be completed this year. This has been the promise people have been hearing for decades though.

Similar, another heart-warming guarantee is that second railway path to Kasargod will be realised this year. However, nothing was mentioned about Thiruvananthapuram-Kozhikode light Metro projects.

Announcements on new insurance schemes for health is a respite for majority of families, amidst rocketing medical treatment costs. 42 lakh families will benefit from this insurance scheme. There are also plans for renovating government hospitals.

1000 crore rupees have been set apart for women empowerment which include permanent employment for 25000 women and interest-free loans for Kudumbasree and Ayalkoottams.

Another flipside to the budget is the decision to increase the fair price of lands by which the government expects an additional income of Rs 400 crore. This may however discourage people from buying lands. Even now, the highest land registration fee is in Kerala.