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Increase in the allocation for Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) from existing Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore per MP, treating education and hospitals as infrastructure sub-sectors and extension of concessional interest to fish farmers and fishermen were the major announcements by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, in Lok Sabha on Friday.
Replying to the discussion on the General Budget 2011-12 in Lok Sabha, Mr Mukherjee, however, noted that MPs from the four States and a Union Territory that were going to Assembly Polls would not be able to utilise the enhanced allocation till the entire election process was over.
It is only after May that MPs from these States can use the enhanced allocation, he said.
These four States are Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Elections are also to be held for the legislative Assembly of Union Territory of Puducherry.
Mr Mukherjee said that the increase in the allocation would result in an additional expenditure of Rs 2,370 crore a year.
CAG report
The Finance Minister also highlighted that he had just received the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on implementation of MPLAD scheme and that the report will be laid on the table of House shortly.
“Concerns expressed therein (CAG report) will be addressed while formulating the guidelines for enhanced allocation,” Mr Mukherjee said.
On health and education, Mr Mukherjee said that henceforth capital stock in educational institutions and hospitals will be treated as infrastructure sub-sectors.
Accordingly, capital investment for these sub-sectors will be eligible for the viability gap funding scheme of the Finance Ministry, he said, adding that detailed guidelines will be announced shortly.
The Finance Minister also announced that the ‘Women's SHGs Development Fund', proposed in the Budget speech with a corpus of Rs 500 crore, will operate through National Agriculture Bank for Rural Development (Nabard).
This fund will be exclusively utilised for providing refinance on loans given to Women's SHGs on soft terms.
To meet the credit needs of fishermen, Mr Mukherjee announced extension of the existing interest subvention scheme of providing short-term loans to farmers at 7 per cent interest (with additional interest subvention for timely repayment) to fish farmers and fishermen.
This would benefit over 20 lakh fish farmers and fishermen engaged in fishing operations in the country, Mr Mukherjee said, adding that details of the scheme would be announced separately.
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