While keeping VAT of fuel untouched, Devda also spared the people by not imposing any new tax and kept the tax slabs unchanged.

Amid deep financial crisis and mounting debt figures, the minister announced revival of some populist schemes like Chief Minister M Teerth Darshan Yojana, and said that the "tax and non-tax revenue are likely to be up by 33% in 2021-22". He said the budget deficit is 5.51% of the GDP.

The finance minister maintained a stoic silence when he was confronted with a barrage of questions post budget presentation about relief on petrol and diesel which is costing about Rs. 100 per litre at most locations in the state.

Devda, in his maiden budget speech that lasted about 1 hour and 26 minutes, said that the theme of the budget was Atamanirbhar Madhya Pradesh and it revolves around 4 pillars including building physical infrastructure, health and education, economics and employment and good governance.

The finance minister said that it was not possible to give a revenue surplus budget because the revised estimates of revenue receipts for the year 2020-21 was Rs. 1,37,169 crore as against the revenue expenditure of Rs. 1,58,545 crore.

"A huge decline in the revenue receipts was witnessed because o the Covid-19 pandemic and the revised estimates of the revenue receipts are expected to be around Rs. 211,376 crore which is 2.25% of the GSDP" Devda said.

Devda added that he would come out with a separate statement on the issue in the FRBM (Fiscal responsibility and budget management) Act.

The finance minister said that the Centre had allowed the facility of additional loan in view of the fiscal constraints which would take the fiscal deficit limit beyond 3% to Rs. 19,535 crore. "Besides, the Centre has also allowed additional load of Rs. 4,542 crore as a compensation to the dip in taxes because of GST compensation".

Devda said that in the year 2021-22 the budget estimates of the total revenue receipts are likely to be Rs. 1,64,677 crore which include Rs. 64,914 crore from the taxes in the state and Rs. 52,247 crore as the state's share in central taxes. The revenue loss will continue in 2021-22 with an expected deficit of Rs. 8,293 crore.

To fulfil the vision of Atamanirbhar Madhya Pradesh adequate provisions have been made in the budget, said Devda.

While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed the budget path breaking and a vision for self-reliant Madhya Pradesh, leader of opposition and PCC chief Kamal Nath called it listless and a pack of lies.

Besides Kamal Nath, most critical appraisal of the budget came from Raghavji, former BJP finance minister. Raghavji said the state is under heavy debt. The amount of the debt is more than the budget allocation. It is bad for the fiscal health of the state. He said that budget of the state is 2.41 lakh crore but the total debt is 2.50 lakh crore. Thus the major portion of the budget is used for the payment of interest. This is nothing but financial mismanagement. He regretted that the government did not give any relief to the people who are paying very high prices for Diesel and Petrol. The price of these two essential commodities in Madhya Pradesh is highest in the country. The cost of registration of property should have been reduced which incidentally is also highest in Madhya Pradesh.

He also expressed the view that GST has not proved beneficial for the health of the state. He recalled that during his six year tenure as finance minister he did not allow GST to be levied in the state and also led campaign against GST. He also pointed out that there are thousands of vacancies in various departments. Because of this the administration is getting adversely affected. Vacancies in Police and education departments affect the progress of the state. He also pointed out that lack of strategy for the industrial development and also for the expansion of tourism.

The finance minister did not make any special provision for farmers. In fact allocation for waiving kisan loan has been reduced. Congress government under Kamal Nath allocated eight thousand crore in the budget of 2019-20 for this purpose. But the present government has reduced it to three thousand crore.

Massive allocations have been made for construction of roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Jobs for 28 thousand persons have been provided in the budget. Observers however feel that budget has been made keeping in view forthcoming local body elections. (IPA Service)