Yesterday, the Government of Telangana in a statement said they will not introduce a separate budget for agriculture for the financial year 2018 to 2019.
A statement issued by the Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s office read, “The reason for this is the absence of a provision for a separate department wise budget in the Constitution. The guidelines and legislative procedures will also not permit a separate budget for any department.”
Earlier, the Telangana Government decided to introduce a separate budget for agriculture. The statement said, “A discussion took place on the feasibility of such a proposal in the meeting. The officials informed that the entire State Budget should be one and only one. The Constitution guidelines will not allow having separate budgets for the departments.”
Under Rule 150 of the Legislative guidelines, receipts and expenditure will be treated as Budget. Other programs, plans and schemes come under bills, they will not be treated as a separate budget.
The statement further added the State Government has been giving top priority to agriculture and sufficient funds would be allocated in the budget. More programs and schemes for farmers will also be added to the budget.
