Odisha Budget 2021-22: Know What FM Pujari Will Offer Today!

Bhubaneswar: With the Economic Survey 2020-21 having virtually sounded the decade-worst contraction bugle in Odisha economy on Saturday, all riveting attention is on the State Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari who will be tabling his third, but first pandemic, budget in the State Assembly on Monday.

The State budget is coming at a time when the ‘once a lifetime’ pandemic had dealt a lethal blow to the job creation in the State.

HOW ACUTE JOB CREATION IN ODISHA?

The intensity of distress in the employment scenario has been to the fore recently when the CMIE’s (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) unemployment report revealed how the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in Odisha had witnessed a sharp dip last year.

As per the report, the LFPR in March (before lockdown) was 41 per cent but by the end of October, the number tumbled down to around 39 per cent. In contrast, the national average was measured higher at around 42 per cent.

“An over 2 per cent dip in LFPR is not good. There may be two reasons behind the swift fall. A dip could happen if large-scale job shedding has taken place in an economy or, it could be so that very few go for job search owing to high despondency in the employment sector in the State,” explained Niraj Kumar, former Rural Development Professor, XIMB.

ODISHA BUDGET 2021-22 LIKELY FOCUS

In order to pump-prime the State economy, it seems the mantra of FM Pujari is higher spending. The budget size has been hiked by around Rs 20,000 crore from Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2020-21. The Budget 2021-22 is likely to give focus on the following sectors.

• As per highly placed sources, to spur economic growth and jobs, the Budget 2021-22 will hike the capital expenditure to a massive around Rs 40,000 crore.
• The all-important Capital Outlay will touch around Rs 29,000 crore.
• Water Supply, Housing and Urban Development will see the highest hike in Capital Outlay (a hike of around Rs 2.3k crore).
• The allocation for water supply and sanitation may see around a 40 per cent hike in 2021-22.
• Health and family welfare allocation may be increased by around 19 per cent to cross Rs 9k crore.
• Allocation for Agriculture and Allied services may cross Rs 13k crore (up by10 per cent).
• The Education sector is likely to see an allocation of around Rs 23k crore (up over 9%)
• The budgetary allocation for the welfare of ST/SC/OBC will be up by around 5 per cent to touch Rs 3.8k crore.
• Allocation for police will cross Rs 4.1k crore.
• No significant increase in outlay for Rural Development.
• The outlay for Irrigation and Flood control will be around Rs 10.2k crore.

WILL THE FOCUS PUMP – PRIME ODISHA ECONOMY?

As per experts, in the backdrop of the contraction in the State economy and its consequent gloomy shadow on the job creation in Odisha, the budget needs to spend higher on economic services sectors like agriculture, irrigation, urban and rural development, housing, energy, and construction of roads and bridges.

“The current spending in the economic services sector stood at around Rs 57,000 crore. In order to give a fillip to employment generation, the total outlay for the economic services sector need to be hiked to Rs 70,000 crore,” said a senior serving IAS officer who was former Principal Secretary in Odisha Finance Department.