Guest Column| Himachal’s growth-oriented budget with humane touch

In his maiden budget presented last week, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu underlined two key priorities of the Congress government: Growth with a humane touch and quantum shift to green energy. The allocations predominantly veer around social welfare projects and schemes to benefit the ‘have-nots’, such as orphans, poor women, SC/ST, unemployed youngsters and small traders.

In his speech, the chief minister outlined a roadmap for converting Himachal Pradesh into a ‘green energy state’ – a step in consonance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s long-term policy to have Green India by 2047. This will entitle the state to big incentives from the Government of India.

Reaching out to underprivileged

Sukhu had given an indication of his mindset when he assumed office and announced the creation of a corpus of ₹101 crore for the uplift of orphans and helpless sections of society, which has been given a practical shape in the budget. One of the striking features of the budget pertains to orphans and the specially abled who will be adopted as ‘children of the state’ under the principle of “sarkar hi mata aur sarkar hi pita”. Christened as Mukhya Mantri Sukh-Ashray Yojana, it will provide ₹4,000 as pocket money to underprivileged students. He has made allocations to 13 social welfare schemes that could be seen as the commitment of the government to giving his budget a humane touch. More than 2.31 lakh women will start getting ₹1,500 a month after the adoption of the budget on March 29 that will cost the state exchequer ₹416 crore. It is the first phase of the poll promise and the rest of the eligible women will be covered in the ensuing annual budgets.

Under the Mukhya Mantri Vidhwa Evam Akal Nari Awas Yojana, 7,000 single women and widows will get financial assistance of ₹1.5 lakh each for the construction of houses besides water and electricity facilities that will create a sense of belongingness. Secondly, the chief minister has silenced his critics as allocation of ₹1,000 crore has been made to implement the top guarantee of the Congress to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), which will be effective from April 1, 2023.

Green energy state

The chief minister’s resolve to develop Himachal Pradesh as energy state by March 31, 2026, may act as a precursor to other states but the key element of its success will rest on the exploitation of solar energy and hydel power, the main ingredients of this vision and mission. Sukhu has formulated a roadmap which includes e-buses for Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation, subsidies for girls to buy e-scooties, developing six green corridors, starting new solar energy schemes, launching hydel projects, initiating pilot projects for two green panchayats, a solar power-based battery energy storage system project, model state for electric vehicles, incentives to private bus and truck operators and signing of an agreement with the World Bank for financial assistance which is in the final stage.

Experts say that Himachal Pradesh may get incentives from the Centre to achieve its target and make the hill state free of pollution.

Uniform development

It is a fact that leaders of all parties have been exploiting the issue of old and new areas to derive political mileage. Sukhu has embarked upon the idea of declaring Kangra district the state’s tourism capital and aims to decongest other popular destinations hence a comprehensive plan will be prepared in the near future. Political observers say that allocation of the budget for these projects in Kangra district reflects the strategy of the new government to prove its intentions of promoting the uniform development model in the state.

Horticulture policy

Some BJP leaders admit it was a blunder to ignore orchardists and fruit-growers and this factor played a role in their electoral losses in Shimla, Kullu, Manali, Kinnaur and Kangra in the 2022 assembly elections. The chief minister has given the responsibility of horticulture to Jagat Singh Negi, who belongs to a tribal district, and is well versed with problems of orchardists. The new horticulture policy will ensure the development of 28 development blocks in seven districts of Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmaur, Solan, and Una under the HPSHIVA Project in five years with an outlay of ₹1,292 crore.

In many ways, the budget is a reflection of the chief minister’s vision to change the system, which may be an uphill task in view of the conventional approach and negative mindset of the bureaucracy. But Sukhu has certainly made a promising start.[email protected]

The writer is veteran journalist based in Shimla. Views expressed are personal