Budget muhurtham set

Hyderabad: Minister for Finance Anam Ramanarayana Reddy has finished giving final touches to the State budget, 2013-14 and will introduce it in the Assembly on Monday. He would be presenting the State budget for the third consecutive year. The muhurtham for the purpose has been set at 10.26 am on March 18. Endowments Minister C Ramachandraiah would read out the budget in AP Legislative Council at the same time. The State budget would be followed by the presentation of agriculture policy of the State government. Minister for Agriculture Kanna Laxminarayana would present the farm policy in the Assembly and Minister for Legislative Affairs and Civil Supplies D Sridhar Babu in the Council. Briefing on the budget making exercise, the Finance Minister told mediapersons that the 2013-14 budget had two special features - a special budget for SC Sub-Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) and separate farm policy-cum-budget. He said that the introduction of SCSP and TSP was a first of its kind in the country and the allocations under the plans should be spent for the development of SCs in that particular year, without fail. "About 22.6 per cent of Sub-Plan funds would be allocated to these plans," he added. Referring to the farm policy, he said that the government felt a need of a separate policy for agriculture, because 70 per cent of the people have been relying on it. Farming in the State has been facing various problems and the government tried to address these problems in the proposed farm policy, he added. "All the problems in the farming sector will be focused on and solutions will be provided for them in the farm policy," he added. He said that the budget was evolved by keeping in mind the promises made by AICC president Sonia Gandhi in 2009.