Finance minister Aanam Ramnarayana Reddy has finally introduced the budget for the year 2013-14. According to the current budget, the proposed expenditure is Rs. 1.61.348 crore. The allocation of money to SC sub plan is Rs. 8.585 crore and for ST sub plan it is Rs. 3,666 crore. Notably, this is the first budget after SC ST sub-plan.

While this year budget concentrated on SC ST sub plans and also on ground water irrigation, the special aspect of this year happens to be agricultural budget. The agriculture budget covered sugar, water supply, fisheries, horticulture, food processing, animal husbandry and also marketing.

The observers who have gone through this budget have said that this is one of the best budgets ever introduced in the history of the state. If implemented correctly, they said, this budget can altogether bring in lots of development. It's a good thing to notice the way farming sector got due importance. It now looks like Andhra Pradesh would stand as a shining example of focus on development.

(AW Phani)