Jharkhand finance minister and state Congress president Rameshwar Oraon
RANCHI: State finance minister Rameshwar Oraon and a few other economists have opposed the idea floated by certain quarters of imposing a lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. The economists have instead advised the state government to strengthen its health facilities and social welfare schemes to tackle the impending rural and urban distress, which is likely to occur in the coming weeks with a surge in reverse migration of workers from big cities.
The state labour department, though, doesn’t have a composite data of those returning to Jharkhand in recent days and weeks.
Ranchi: The Hemant Soren government faces an uphill task to fulfil the budgetary proposals of Rs 91,277 crore for the 2021-22 financial year and is very unlikely to generate the target revenue unless meticulous planning and implementation were not made, experts said on Thursday.
Notably, finance minister Rameshwar Oraon presented the proposals in the ongoing budget session on Wednesday in which the government expects to mobilise Rs 23,265.42 crore from taxes and Rs 13,500 crore from non-tax sectors. It is also hoping to get Rs 17,891.48 crore as central assistance, Rs 22,050 crore as tax share from the Centre and Rs 14,500 crore from public debt.
A joint delegation of the Right to Food Campaign and Phia (Partnering Hope Into Action) Foundation, a charity, on Saturday met Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and requested against any cuts on food and social security schemes in the budget.
The delegation, which comprised economist Jean Dreze, former vice-chancellor of Vinobha Bhave University, Ramesh Sharan, Asarfi Nand, state convener of Right to Food Campaign, and state head of Phia Foundation, Johnson Topno, felt that there are legal provisions on selection of schemes and projects at the gram sabha level.
“The government should make budgetary allocation for activities conducted at the gram sabha level along with budgetary provision for establishment of single-window system at block level for social security schemes,” said Nand.
JPSC age norm tweak to help working professionals Hemant govt relaxes cut-off for next exam, hopes to fulfil hiring pledge
The Hemant Soren government’s decision to relax age cut-offs for Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) aspirants will not only help the government achieve its recruitment targets, but also provide an opportunity to working professionals to switch jobs from the private sector to the public sector, academicians said on Thursday.
“At a time when the challenges in private sector are rapidly growing, leaving limited scope for employee-friendly HR policies, the government’s decision comes as an opportunity for those who want to leave their corporate jobs and join a government job,” said Dr V.P. Sharan, a city-based academician and former pro vice chancellor of Ranchi University.
Picture used for representational purpose only
RANCHI: Economists in Jharkhand say they are expecting special relief packages in this year’s Union Budget to tackle humanitarian crises faced by migrants and others in the state after the Covid-19-induced lockdown. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Budget on Monday.
Noted economist Jean Dreze said the government will have to think of strong and robust measures to help the economy back on track but it must equally take into consideration the existing humanitarian crises.
Referring to the economic survey, which projected double-digit growth in the next fiscal, he said, “When we talk of double-digit growth rate, are we talking about the pre-lockdown baseline or the current situation? We have to think of strong measures so that the economy bounces back to reach a level better than what existed before the pandemic broke out.”