Bhopal: Chief Minister Mohan Yadav-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh decided Tuesday that the ministers of the state cabinet would now pay their income tax on salaries and allowances themselves, revoking a 52-year-old rule under which the state government paid it instead.
Briefing the media on the decision of the state cabinet, Urban Administration Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya explained, “Chief Minister Mohan Yadav made a suggestion before the cabinet today that the rule of 1972, as per which the state government bears the income tax imposed on the ministers salary, be repealed and that the ministers pay tax themselves. It has been agreed upon by all.”
In a house of 230 MLAs, Madhya Pradesh has the capacity of 34 ministers. According to a senior state government official, the government paid Rs 79.07 lakh towards Income tax of its ministers in 2023-24, whereas the figure for the past five years cumulatively stood at Rs 3.17 crore. This amount will now be paid by ministers themselves.
A former minister, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We did not know the tax was being paid by the state government, as most of the filing work is done by the staff and the accountant.”
CM Yadav told the media, “There were several decisions taken by the cabinet with a long-term vision for the benefit of the state. Our ministers will pay their own taxes and will not take aid from the government.”
He added, “We also decided that instead of the wife of a martyr receiving the entire compensatory amount of Rs one crore, now 50 percent of the amount will be given to the martyr’s parents, as in several cases, it was seen that the parents suffered a great deal.”
Minister Vijayvargiya also pointed out that a bill to improve the conditions for the prisoners in Jail Sudhar Grah, and propose measures to connect them with skill development prospects, will be tabled before the assembly in the upcoming session.
In a step towards generating more employment, the state government has decided that students graduating from agriculture colleges will now be employed at block offices for soil testing, along with farming-related self-help groups. Vijayvargiya said that the government will provide 45 testing samples for each of the 350 blocks, beyond which it would depend on the ability of each block to convince a farmer to get their soil tested.
The Madhya Pradesh cabinet also removed the minimum limit of 10 hectares of land required for tree plantation under corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives because smaller companies were left out. Now, under CSR, companies would also be able to take up one or two hectares of land for tree plantation.
Among other decisions, the government announced that many of the students from the state, who are studying in Sainik schools outside Madhya Pradesh and have not been eligible for the state-sponsored scholarship so far, will now be included in the scholarship.
Additionally, the coordination work of the railway projects under execution in the state, which were until now looked after by the transport department, will now fall under the purview of the public works department.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)