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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's Left Democratic Front government yesterday appeared to toe the line of the federal budget, announcing a number of welfare schemes that would benefit the masses, and asserting that the public sector would be given continued support from the government coffers.
Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who presented his third state budget yesterday, clarified that the state was not under any financial depression as was being widely reported by the media.
Isaac began his budget speech, which took slightly over two hours to be read, seeking to counter a number of allegations about the status of the state's economy, which he said were "myths".
He claimed the state was not in a debt trap as propagated. He said the state's debt burden declined to 37.1 per cent of the gross domestic product by March 31, 2007 from about 39.1 per cent as of March 31, 2005. The debt burden stood at Rs499 billion (Dh45.4 billion).
The budget stressed the state government's commitment towards the marginalised sections, and announced pension benefits for more sections of people.
Some of the welfare measures announced in the budget included free treatment for children afflicted by cancer, financial assistance for children in orphanages, a Rs500 million agricultural debt relief programme, assistance for the aged and a rehabilitation scheme for the tsunami affected.
Isaac concluded by saying Kerala was no longer a debt-ridden state and it could achieve zero revenue deficit by 2010-11.
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