This story is from February 26, 2019

Tripura government to start distributing cows

Keeping his word on the "untapped" livelihood opportunities in rearing cows, chief minister Biplab Deb's government on Monday proposed a scheme to distribute 10,000 cows to 5,000 families in the state budget.
Tripura government to start distributing cows
Representative image
AGARTALA: Keeping his word on the "untapped" livelihood opportunities in rearing cows, chief minister Biplab Deb's government on Monday proposed a scheme to distribute 10,000 cows to 5,000 families in the state budget.
"We will distribute 10,000 cows among 5,000 families under the Mini Dairy Scheme of NABARD to boost milk production in the state. The entire interest will be paid by the state government," finance minister and deputy CM Jishnu Dev Varma said, while tabling the budget.
In April last year, Deb had laid out this plan and said, "There should be a cow in every house.
Why run after netas for government jobs? ... I am not against setting up big industries but for that, one has to invest Rs 10,000 crore to employ 2,000 people. But if I give 10,000 cows to 5,000 families, they will start earning in six months."
Keeping another promise, one made in BJP's election manifesto before the assembly election last year, Dev Varma announced a scheme to give smartphones to graduates. In the first phase, the batch of students graduating this year will be given smartphones.
Dev Varma said there has been a revenue growth of 14.43% since the last fiscal. The Rs 17,530.46-crore budget is a tax-free zero-deficit one, with the highest allocation (23.16%) earmarked for pension, debt servicing and other financial obligations, followed by education (20.81%). Both budgets tabled by Dev Varma since the BJP-IPFT government came to power have been zero-deficit ones.
With an eye on the Lok Sabha election, the budget has incorporated specific schemes for farmers and urban households. It plans to disburse at least Rs 300 crore to the state's five lakh farmers via Direct Benefit Transfer under the PM KISAN Yojana. It also promises piped drinking water to every household over the next three years under the Atal Jaldhara scheme. Besides, households of all categories will also start getting sugar at subsidized rates. Finally, social pension has been raised from Rs 700 to Rs 1,000.

Deb hailed the budget, saying, "The state's tax revenue collection has increased to 25.8 percent in last one year under BJP-IPFT rule, which is ever highest in the history of Tripura. Generation of own revenue was up to 13 percent but due to multi-prong strategies for development and new initiative of the government it raised to double."
"Currently, only 4 percent household receives pipe water but the Atal Jaldhara Mission will provide piped water to each family by next three year. It is indeed a revolutionary step taken by the state government", Deb added.
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