Rajasthan Budget: Gehlot announces inflation relief package of Rs 19,000 crore

Jaipur: Presenting the last budget of his government before the Assembly polls, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced a Rs 19,000 crore inflation relief package that includes free food packets every month to poor families, LPG cylinders for Rs 500 to Ujjwala Scheme beneficiaries and free electricity up to 100 units per month to domestic consumers.

Gehlot, who also holds the finance portfolio, extended the benefits of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to the employees of state government boards, corporations, academies and universities. No new tax was imposed in the state budget 2023-24.
He said reliefs have been given and no new tax has been imposed in the last four budgets.

The budget proposed to increase the coverage amount from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh annually per family in the state government's ambitious Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana.
Gehlot also announced enacting a law on social security and Gig Workers Welfare Act, one-time registration to appear for competitive exams, and free electricity for farmers consuming up to 2,000 units of electricity.

"I announce to give free Chief Minister Annapurna food packets every month along with free ration to about one crore families coming under the purview of the National Food Security Act," he said.
"One kilogram pulses, sugar, salt and one litre edible oil will be made available in this packet. About Rs 3,000 crore will be spent on this," he added.

In the budget proposed for 2023-24, the senior Congress leader said, "About 76 lakh families included in the BPL and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will get LPG cylinders for Rs 500. Rs 1,500 crore will be spent on this."
He said, "Domestic consumers will be given 100 units of electricity free of cost per month under the Chief Minister's Free Electricity Scheme. This limit was 50 units last year."

"With this, more than 1.04 crore families out of 1.19 crore in the state will be able to get domestic electricity free of cost. The state will incur a burden of Rs 7,000 crore on this," he added.
Gehlot said the state government aims to provide free electricity to domestic users consuming 300 units per month in a phased manner.

The chief minister also announced to increase the accidental insurance coverage from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh under the Chiranjeevi scheme.
According to the budget announced, a welfare fund of Rs 200 crore will be set up for the people working in the gig economy sector. The term gig workers refer to those engaged in work for app-based services like Zomato, Swiggy, Ola and Uber.

The scope of 'Gig Economy' is increasing and the number of 'Gig Workers' in the state has increased to 3-4 lakh and there is no system of social security for them, Gehlot noted.
"To save them from harassment, I propose to bring Gig Workers Welfare Act, under which Gig Workers Welfare Fund will be set up with Rs 200 crore, along with the constitution of Gig Workers Welfare Board," he said.

While expanding the old pension scheme (OPS), Gehlot announced to extend its benefits to the employees of state government boards, corporations, academies and universities.
He said this would benefit more than one lakh employees. Gehlot had announced the restoration of the old pension scheme for state government employees in the last year's budget.
He said farmers consuming up to 2,000 units of electricity would get free electricity in the state from the financial year 2023-24. This will benefit more than 11 lakh farmers.(PTI)