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Thrust for Farmers, Students & Infra In Maharashtra Budget 2018-19

Maharashtra Govt woos farmers with focus on loan waivers and water conservation in drought areas in budget 2018-19.

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Farmers seem to be the Maharashtra Government’s top priority as State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar presented the budget for 2018-2019 in the state Legislative Assembly.

Continuing its push for the Jalyukt Shivar scheme to harvest rainwater in drought-affected areas launched in 2014, the Fadnavis-led government has allocated Rs 1,500 crore this budget. Even as thousands of disgruntled farmers march towards Mumbai in protest, MoS Finance, Deepak Kesarkar, said that as of 6 March 2018, Rs 13,782 crore has been handed out as loan waiver to 35.68 lakh farmers. 

A subsidy of Rs 922 crore has been granted to farmers producing wheat and rice in 14 suicide-hit districts. Farmers cultivating wheat and rice will receive a subsidy of Rs 2 per kg and Rs 3 per kg respectively.

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The State Government has also allocated Rs 3,015 crore to be spent on 26 major irrigation projects under the Pradhan Mantri Sinchai Yojana. Rs 750 crore, meanwhile, have been budgeted for the supply of agricultural water pumps.

In a bid to promote organic farming, Rs 100 crore has been set aside for it.

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Infrastructure too has received a major thrust in this budget. Rs 10,948 crore is the estimate for improving suburban railway services in Mumbai under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3 undertaken by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation. The costs for this will be shared equally by the State and Centre.

With around 64 percent land already acquired, the 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway corridor is likely to be completed in 3 years. Meanwhile, around Rs 7,500 crore has been approved for the Bandra-Versova sea link. The focus isn’t just on Mumbai though, with Rs 100 crore allocated to upgrade the Nagpur airport. 
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Apart from agriculture and irrigation, students and entrepreneurs too have something to look forward to. Scholarships for students of the Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe and Other Backward Classes has been doubled to Rs 4,000 from Rs 2,000 earlier.

Rs 50 crore has been set aside for one coaching centre in each district in Maharashtra for UPSC, banking and other competitive exams. The State Government has also allotted Rs 605 crore for raising the annual family income cap for eligibility of educational freeships from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh.

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In a bid to promote startups, Rs 5,000 crore will be budgeted over the next five years until 2022. This is expected to help 10,000 startups.

10 lakh youths will also be trained for 5 years under the Government’s skill development programme.

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The Government has allocated Rs 13,385 crore to the home department in a bid to modernise and upgrade the Maharashtra police force. Around Rs 165 crore out of the total amount will be used to establish a state-wide CCTV surveillance network.

Rs 300 crore has been set aside for the massive Shivaji Memorial being built off the Mumbai coast and Rs 150 crore has been allocated for the Ambedkar Memorial.

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