AP Budget 2014-15 Highlights:

Sakshi Education

Following are the highlights of the Budget 2014-15 presented in the Andhra Pradesh Legislature by the Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on August 20, 2014:

The provisional estimates of Gross State Domestic Product(GSDP) at Current Prices for the year 2013-14 is estimated at Rs.4,75,859 Crore as against Rs.4,19,391 Crore for 2012-13 indicating a growth of 13.46%.
The GSDP at Constant (2004-05) Prices for the year 2013-14 is estimated at Rs.2, 50,282 Crore as against Rs.2, 35,930 Crore for 2012-13 indicating a growth of 6.08%.
At constant prices, the Agriculture sector, the Industry and the Services sectors registered a growth of 6.94%, 2.16% and 7.25% respectively during 2013-14.
The provisional estimates of per capita income at current prices for the year 2013-14 is Rs.85, 797 as against Rs.76, 041 in 2012-13 registering a growth of 12.8 percent.
The per capita income at constant (2004-05) prices for the year 2013-14 is estimated at Rs. 44,481 as against Rs. 42,186 in 2012-13 (FRE) registering a growth of 5.4 per cent.
Government proposes an expenditure of Rs.1, 11,824 crores; Non-plan expenditure is estimated at Rs.85, 151 crores and Plan expenditure at Rs.26, 673 crores.
The estimated Revenue Deficit is Rs.6, 064 crores and Fiscal Deficit is estimated at Rs.12, 064 crores.
The fiscal deficit works out to 2.30% of GSDP whereas the Revenue Deficit works out to 1.16%.
Rs. 8465 Crores is allotted for irrigation and Rs. 4260 crores for Panchayat Raj.
The revenue sales tax of the residuary State, which is the most important source of revenue for the State, is expected to be only around 47% of the combined State’s revenue and revenue under stamp duty and registration fees, motor vehicle tax are expected to be less than 50%.
Excise is the only tax where the share of residuary State will be close to 55%. Non-tax revenue from mining will be less than 30% of the united State. Overall revenue share of residuary State from tax and non-tax is estimated to be around 47% of the united State.
The residuary State being agrarian has tax to GSDP ratio of only 6.8%, while for more urbanized Telangana it is 9.7%.
Vision 2029 is envisaged to place the state among the best three performing states in the country by 2022 marking India 75th Independence and make Andhra Pradesh a developed state measured in terms of citizen life satisfaction and Happiness Index by 2029, coinciding with the next three Finance Commissions.
Mission Based Development Strategy is proposed to have the Chief Minister as the Chairperson of the following Missions: Primary Sector Mission, Social Empowerment Mission, Knowledge and Skill Development Mission, Urban Development Mission, Manufacturing Sector Mission, Infrastructure Mission and Service Sector Mission.
The population of the Scheduled Castes, in the State, is 84.45 lakh and constitutes 17.1 % of the population. The Scheduled Tribe population in the state is 26.31 lakh constituting 5.33 % of the population.
There are 35 Scheduled tribes, out of which 6 tribal groups are categorized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PTGs).
The new schemes that will be introduced for the welfare of Minorities are Dukan-o-Makan and Roshini.
During the year 2014-2015 it is proposed to develop Mega Tourism Circuits in Krishna and Ananthapuramu Districts at a cost of Rs.100 crore of Central Assistance.
An International Convention Center at a cost of Rs.117 crore and Indian Culinary Institute at a cost of Rs.50 crore at Tirupathi are planned for the current financial year.
To provide trained manpower to the Tourism sector, State Institutes of Hotel Management are being set up at Tirupathi and Kakinada at a cost of Rs.12 crore each.
There are about 70 lakh members in 6.56 lakh SHGs exclusively for women in the State. The total savings and Corpus of SHG Members are Rs.3064 crore and Rs.4025 crore respectively.
Under Social Security Pensions an amount of Rs.2505 crore was distributed to 75.00 lakh pensioners. The Government have enhanced existing rate of pension from Rs.200 to Rs.1000 per month to the elderly, widows, weavers, toddy tappers, ART cases and Disabled persons with 40% to 79% of disability and Rs.1500 per month to the persons with 80% and above disability to provide a more secure life to them.
The State has achieved a higher Gross Enrollment Ratio of 21.6 in higher education compared to the national average of 18.8 and will make all efforts to achieve the GER of 32 by the end of 13th plan period as envisaged by Govt. of India under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme.
The government has sanctioned IIIT Sri City in Chittoor District and is likely to establish another IIIT at Kakinada under PPP mode.
Forest area of the State is 36,917 Sq.km, out of which only 9,764 Sq.km is dense forest constituting 22.61% of the total geographical area. There are 13 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 3 National parks and 2 Zoo Parks in the State.
Andhra Pradesh has a coastal line of about 975 kms long with one Major Port at Visakhapatnam and 14 Non Major Ports. The four non Major Ports viz., Kakinada Anchorage Port, Kakinada Deepwater Port, Krishnapatnam Port and Gangavaram Port and one captive port at Rawa are in operation and trading activities are going on.
Government has decided to develop 14 Minor Ports under PPP mode which include ports at Bhavanapadu and Calingapatnam.
The length of National Highways is 4,302 Kms, State Highways is 7,255 Kms, Major District Roads is 19,783 Kms and Zilla Parishad Taken over roads is 15,100 Kms. Core net Road length is 6,800 Kms.
An additional capacity of around 2925 MW power is likely to be commissioned during this financial year from APGENCO, Central Generating Stations and Independent Power Producers.
Two Solar Parks with a potential capacity of 1000 MW are proposed to be set up in Guntur and Ananthapuramu districts.
The State is blessed with three major rivers namely Godavari, Krishna and Pennar with an ayacut of 101.60 lakh acres under Major, Medium and Minor Irrigation sectors.
A Commission is being constituted to study the inclusion of Kapus into BC category without affecting the interests of BCs.
13 BC Study circles will come up for the benefit of BC students to fare well in competitive examinations.
Five Shilparamas will come up in the State at a time. The upcoming are at Kakinada, Eluru, Vijayawada, Nellore and Anantapur.