Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy yesterday presented the state’s budget after a period of 22 years despite opposition. Chandy had last presented the state budget in 1994.
When Speaker N Sakthan called on Chandy to present the budget, members of the Left opposition in the assembly raised placards and banners highlighting the bar and solar scams in Kerala to criticise the government.
Fifteen minutes into his budget presentation, the Left opposition distributed copies of what they claimed were relevant budget documents and said the sanctity of the whole budget was lost as it was leaked before being presented.
Chandy in his budget yesterday promised to provide 25kgs of free rice from the next fiscal to all families below the poverty line.
His budget proposals revolved around his pet slogan - development and care. He set aside Rs1bn for a new project named ‘kanivu’ (concern) for the poorest of the poor and those who suffer from various ailments.
The monthly pension for all those aged 75 and above has been raised to Rs1,500.
Some 3mn people will benefit from the insurance scheme launched by the prime minister after Chandy said their insurance premium would be borne by the state government.
He also set aside Rs7.64bn for reviving the beleaguered agriculture sector and announced raising the farmers monthly pension to Rs750.
“A sum of Rs5bn is being earmarked to ensure that the benchmark price of one kg of rubber is kept at Rs150. In the present fiscal this amount was Rs3bn,” Chandy said.
Three new agriculture colleges and a new agri-polytechnic will be set up in the new fiscal.
Another Rs1bn was set aside for building a new dam in place of the leaking Mullaperiyar dam.
A total of Rs.25.36bn has been set aside for major infrastructure projects like the Vizhinjam port, Kannur airport, Kochi metro, suburban rail corridor and the proposed light metro projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
The budget also saw the earmarking of Rs50bn to the local bodies in the state as part of the plan fund allocation. After K M Mani, the state finance minister, quit following an adverse court remark last year, the finance portfolio was handled by Chandy.
Chandy said the IT exports that stand at Rs110bn are expected to touch Rs150bn. He added that he was setting aside Rs4.83bn for the IT sector.

Air Kerala plans get a Rs100mn boost
Hopes of bringing into existence Kerala’s own airline received a boost yesterday as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced Rs100mn had been set aside for the project in the state budget. “I have set aside Rs100mn for commencing Air Kerala. It will be done once we get the Centre’s sanction to commence flights to the Middle-East countries from here,” Chandy said in his speech while presenting the budget in the Kerala assembly. The project has been caught in turbulence ever since he first mooted it during his first tenure as chief minister (2004-06). At present, rules for flying on international routes stipulate that a company should own 20 aircraft and should have operated domestic flights for five years.