The Punjab government today presented its Rs 1.96-lakh-crore budget for the state. The budget focuses on agriculture, education and health segments. The total budget size increased by 26 percent to Rs 1,96,462 crore for 2023-24 over the previous year, according to Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema.

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It is the first full budget presented after the AAP government came to power in March 2022.

Here’s a look at the key subsidies announced in the 2023-24 Punjab state budget.

Power subsidy

The domestic subsidy will be Rs 7,780 crore in this fiscal. An outlay of Rs 9,331 crore has been allocated for power subsidies to the agriculture sector and farmers, an increase from Rs 9,064 crore last year. While Rs 2,700 crore has been allocated for subsidised power to industrial units.

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Agriculture subsidies and big announcements

The finance minister proposed Rs 13,888 crore for the agriculture and allied sector, which is an increase of 20 percent from last year. The government will also come out with a new agriculture policy for which a committee of experts has been formed.

As for the subsidies, a revolving fund, worth an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore, has been allocated to provide a 33 percent subsidy on cotton seeds and Rs 1,000 crore has been allocated for market intervention by the government for procurement of basmati.

A sum of Rs 1,000 crore was dedicated to crop diversification. Also, a track-and-trace mechanism has been dedicated to ensuring the quality of seeds.

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The government has further estimated Rs 1,000 crore for diversification practices and about 30,312 farmers will be provided with an incentive of Rs 1,500 per acre for adopting the DSR technique for paddy crops.

About Rs 125 crore was allocated for DSR and moong cultivation this fiscal.

Another Rs 253 crore has been set aside for horticulture, which is double that of the previous year and Rs 15 crore has been dedicated to mitigating risks for horticulture producers.

Cheema announced that Rs 885 crore will be given to the Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank to pay back its loan.

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Rs 400 crore has been allocated to Sugarfed to support cane growers, out of which Rs 250 crore is set aside for the next fiscal.

On the stubble-burning issue, the minister said that there has been a 30 percent drop in stubble-burning incidents. The government has allocated Rs 350 crore to tackle stubble burning.