Gujarat woos youth through budget

Gujarat government announced its annual budget for 2013-14 at Rs 1,14,450 cr and said its annual development plan for 2013-14 is fixed at Rs 58,500 cr.

Targeting the Indian citizen that has been listening to its growth story over the decade, the state yet again reiterated its commitment towards farmers, youth and women through its budget presented by finance minister nitin patel.

Majority of the allocation has gone to social service (Rs 24586 cr), followed by irrigation and flood control (Rs 12660 cr), transportation (Rs5006 cr), energy (Rs 4996 cr), industries and mines(Rs 2455 cr), agri and allied services (Rs3763 cr), and other actors.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi's plea to the Indian youth to harness their skills for gloal challenges got echoed in the budget presented here. Stating that the state has the lowest unemployment rate, the budget speech said aspirations of neo-middle class youth depend upon their self-reliance while announcing a Skill University and Gujarati Skill Development Corporation to address the requirement of skill pool. The state said it would create Gujarat Research and Innovation Fund to promote strategic partnerships in research and exchange programmes.

The budget announced creation of Chief Minister's Scholarship Fund to support students of socio-economic backward class and needy students of the neo middle class. The state yet again emphasised the need for its youth to learn English. The budget enlisted a provision of rs1 cr to impart language training to the youth.

The state announced a new manufacturing policy to increase contribution of the sector uptown 32% from 27.6% in the state domestic production. A provision of Rs 290 cr is made for its implementation.

The energy surplus state said it would increase its energy capacity by 3665 Mw. Further, the gas grid network would be extended by 800 km to add to its existing 2152 km network.