THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the criticism of opening up the country’s economy more and more to the forces of speculation notwithstanding,the State Government has struck a note of contentment on the allocation to the state.Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that the annual Union Budget was a realistic one, providing succour to the poor and common people. “The proposals in the budget would boost economic growth,” he opined.Pinning hopes on the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) and address the severe resources crunch is not only the concern of the Union Government but the states also. “It is promising that the Union Finance Minister has underlined that the GST network would come into force by August this year. Though the service tax net is proposed to go up from the existing 10 to 12 per cent, the states would have more say,” hoped state Finance Minister K M Mani.Assessing the Union Budget and commenting on it to Express, Mani pointed out that with a Constitutional amendment on the GST in the offing,in all likelihood, half of the total revenue from the service taxes collected would come to the state.He said that the states were quite worried on the uncertainty encircling the implementation of the GST, as there was little sign on its implementation on the set deadline of April 1,2012 .To a query on how much is the rating if the wish list presented by the state to the Centre is considered, the Chief Minister asked whether the state can think of a scenario wherein all its demands are accepted.“By and large,the state can feel good. A green signal has been given to the Kochi Metro by way of allotting Rs 60 crore. Allocation of Rs 100 crore to the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) was also a special achievement. All PSUs in the state have also been given due consideration,” Chandy said.“It is indeed heartening to note that there is an allocation of `100 crore for the KAU and Kochi Metro got `60 crore,” Mani said.Agreeing to the widespread view that the IT limit on gross income should have been more than the revised ceiling of `2 lakh, Mani said that the proposal to infuse foreign capital into the housing sector to provide a 1 per cent interest rebate on home loans up to `15 lakh was a positive sign.Higher allocation for infrastructure development and earmarking Rs 5.75 lakh crore for the agricultural sector, which is higher by Rs 1 lakh than the preceding year, would also add vigour to the economy,” he felt. When asked whether the Union Budget would have a definite bearing on the State Budget and a common line of thinking to be presented on Monday, Mani said, “Not much. It will be different. I’ll be on my independent tracks”.
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