Assam rains sops in poll-oriented Budget
The Hindu
Assam government presents deficit Budget targeting tea workers, women, farmers, youth, and lower-income groups for 2025-26.
GUWAHATI
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Assam government on Monday (March 10, 2025) presented a poll-oriented deficit Budget to woo tea plantation workers, women, farmers, youth, government employees, and those in the lower-income group.
These categories of people and their adult dependents form the bulk of the voters in Assam, where Assembly elections are due in 2026.
The State’s Finance Minister Ajanta Neog presented a ₹2.63 lakh crore Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year with a deficit of ₹620.27 crore, announcing a one-time financial assistance of ₹5,000 each for the State’s 6.8 lakh casual and permanent tea garden workers.
Ms. Neog said the government was “extending gratitude” toward the tea garden community — Adivasis referred to as ‘tea tribes’ — on the occasion of 200 years of the beverage industry in Assam.
Stating that the government was aware of the challenges faced by the tea industry, Ms. Neog announced the extension of a tax holiday on green tea leaves under the Assam Taxation (on Specified Lands) Act, 1990 for another two years. Introduced for three years, the exemption had ended in December 2024.
She announced that the State government would increase the coverage of ‘Orunodoi’, a poverty alleviation programme, from 24 lakh beneficiaries to 37.2 lakh beneficiaries during the 2025-26 fiscal. Under this programme, women are provided with monthly assistance of ₹1,250.
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