In an election-oriented budget, the LDF Government in Kerala on Thursday unveiled a slew of welfare and social security measures including a Rs 10,000 educational endowment scheme for every new born child while sparing the people of any fresh taxes.

Presenting his final budget for 2011-12 in the Assembly when polls are just two months away, the Finance Minister Mr T M Thomas Isaac increased the provision for price-control programmes and a proposed a long-term infrastructure development programme.

Apart from raising the minimum welfare pension to Rs 400 for a wide spectrum of the less privileged, the budget announced a welfare scheme for domestic aides, vast majority of whom are women.

A similar scheme would be introduced for employees in unaided educational institutions including tutorial colleges and paramedical staff in private hospitals.

Besides bringing 4 million BPL families under Rs 2 per Kg rice scheme, the budget provided Rs 100 crore for supplying essentials items through over 3000 PDS outlets.

A comprehensive package for improving quality of existing roads and bridges and building new ones involving a total cost of Rs 40,000 crore in different stages was proposed.

A sum of Rs 1,000 crore had been earmarked in the budget to take up the work in 2011-12 itself.

Claiming that the V S Achuthanandan Government had put the state on a growth trajectory in the last five years, Mr Isaac said its policies gave equal thrust for both welfare and development.

Himself an economist, Mr Isaac countered the critics of his policies by holding that the state’s income was growing by 14 to 15 per cent.

The Congress-led opposition UDF, however, dubbed the budget as an “eye wash” which even dented the credibility of the annual exercise.

“This is an attempt to win the applause of the people with an eye on the elections,” Opposition leader Mr Oommen Chandy said.

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