Naveen Patnaik lauds Budget 2021, says dip in share of central taxes worrying

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday praised the Union Budget that was presented in Parliament by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying the Centre’s replication of state scheme of Mamata and Mission Shakti was a logical step towards women empowerment.

But he expressed his concern that Odisha would be hit by the drastic reduction of share in central taxes by about ₹10,840 crore for the current year and as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the horizontal share will decrease from 4.629 per cent to 4.528 per cent for the next 5 years.

“After Odisha’s Mamata scheme was adopted by the Centre from 2011-2012, replication of our state’s flagship women empowerment initiative Mission Shakti clearly shows that Odisha has set a benchmark for the nation. I am hopeful that after Mamata and Mission Shakti the next logical step towards women empowerment would be reservation for women in Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. We will continue to fight for this,” he said.

Patnaik praised the Budget for its focus on capital investment to boost growth, reintroduction of developmental financial institution, allocation for Covid-19 vaccines, industry and sector specific interventions.

“Further capital investments very much required in Odisha both in railways and highways sectors as it has been planned for other states. There is a need to increase allocation in social assistance programmes and quantum of transfers for local bodies. Centralization of revenue by introduction of cess in petrol and diesel will weaken the Centre- state fiscal balance,” he said.