Finance Minister Ajanta Neog made a number of key announcements in the State Budget 2025
GUWAHATI, March 10: Assam Finance Minister Ajanta Neog today tabled the State Budget for 2025 in the Assam Assembly today (March 10).
Presenting her last full budget of the present term of Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma Government, Finance Minister Neog proposed to exempt professional tax on a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000 for all salaried individuals in the State besides announcing to extend the tax holiday for green tea leaves for two more years.
The Assam Finance Minister also announced a one-time financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to 6.8 lakh tea garden workers, both casual and permanent for which an outlay of Rs 342 crore has been made in the budget.
She also proposed in her budget address to increase the number of beneficiaries under Orunodoi 3.0 to 37.2 lakh from the existing 24 lakh for which Rs 5,000 crore has been earmarked.
The Nijut Moina Scheme launched to support girls’ education by providing monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 for Class 11 students, Rs 1,250 for first-year undergraduates, and Rs 2,500 for first-year postgraduates and B.Ed. students for 10 months will now be expanded to benefit 4.3 lakh girl students from the earlier 1.8 lakh students.
The Assam Finance Minister further announced that graduates passing out in 2025 from Government universities/colleges of Assam will receive a monthly stipend of Rs 2,500 under the Chief Minister’s Jibon Prerana scheme for up to one year.
75,000 new beneficiaries will be eligible to receive Rs 1 lakh under the Chief Minister’s Atmanirbhar Asom Abhijan (CMAAA) while the 25,000 beneficiaries who were given Rs 1 lakh financial assistance under the said scheme will be eligible to receive the same amount in two installments for the second year.
Moreover, applicants who have completed a professional degree are eligible for funding of up to Rs 5 lakh while 4 percent of the beneficiaries would be reserved for Divyangjan, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog added in her Budget Speech.
Meanwhile, there was a massive announcement for State government employees with the Finance Minister announcing that the Himanta Biswa Sarma government is mulling the option of restoring the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for regular employees whose recruitment process began before February 1, 2005. She also announced that the State government will extend the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) to State Government employees covered under the New Pension Scheme which, she said, will benefit 2.8 lakh employees while also announcing that those who wish to continue with NPS may do so.
Finance Minister Neog also announced a financial support of Rs 25,000 each to 1,000 young writers with a view to nurturing writers contributing to creative, scientific and academic writing.
She also announced to extend the financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh earlier given to 17,000 religious institutions by enrolling 25,000 Naamghars and other religious institutions who will be paid Rs 3 lakh each in two equal installments while the first installment will be released before March 31, 2025.
In another big announcement targeting the middle class, the Assam Finance Minister announced that the government will reduce electricity rate by Rs 1 for every unit for consumption of up to 120 units in a month. This, she said, will provide relief to 48 lakh consumers out of total 68 lakh consumers.
She also announced in her budget speech to develop new Industrial Parks in Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Silchar, Jagiroad, Palashbari, Tezpur and Nalbari with top class industrial facilities subject to the availability of land and that the government will spend Rs 500 crore in a phased manner for this.
Finance Minister Ajanta Neog also announced that the Dr Himanta Bisa Sarma Government is planning to construct new township projects in Jagiroad and Palashbari with assistance from Asian Development Bank (ADB). A project worth Rs 8,000 crore, she added, is in the pipeline.
To foster cultural pride, a major announcement to give Rs 1,500 per month to Udasin Bhakats of Satras was also made in the State Budget for 2025-26 fiscal.
Another massive announcement made in the State Budget has been to set up Assa,’s own satellite — ASSAMSAT — in space to ensure a continuous, reliable flow of data for implementation of critical socio-economic projects.
Several other announcements, including the establishment of a Proton Therapy Centre at the State Cancer Institute in Guwahati for cutting-edge cancer treatment to cancer patients, especially children and to upgrade the Dibrugarh Polytechnic at Lahowal to a full-fledged Engineering College.
