Assam budget proposes 1 tola gold for brides, rice at Re 1 a kg

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday presented a Rs 1,193 crore deficit budget for 2019-20 with no fresh taxes and introducing new schemes like providing rice to poor at Re 1 a kg and gold for brides.

The budget also proposed to provide financial assistance to students, including girls from the minority community.

With an opening balance of minus Rs 1,799.84 crore, the budget proposed to have transactions of Rs 606.80 crore during 2019-20, Sarma told the House.

Sarma said that for special category states like Assam, companies with turnover of Rs 10 lakh are required to register for Goods and Services Tax (GST).

However, to give succour to small businesses and considering the small base, the government has raised the GST threhold limit to Rs 20 lakh following approval of the GST Council effective February 1, 2019.

Sarma further proposed to raise the threshold limit for registration under GST for suppliers of goods to Rs 40 lakh. However, the limit stays at Rs 20 lakh for supplier of services.

He said that under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), the Centre provides rice at Rs 3 per kg to 57 lakh households in Assam covering a total population of 2.46 crore.

"To further strengthen food security for our people, we will provide rice at a further subsidized rate of Re 1 per kg instead of the present Rs 3 per kg and the move will benefit 53 Lakh households," Sarma said.

The government has also proposed to give 1 tola of gold (11.66 grams) to brides' parents of belonging to the economically weaker sections of the society.

"We shall give one tola gold costing around Rs 38,000 as on today to brides belonging to all such communities of our state where it is customary to provide gold at the time of wedding" under the Arundhati scheme.