Anam to present Indias first paperless budget

HYDERABAD: The state budget, to be presented in the Assembly by finance minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy on Friday, will be the first paperless budget in the country. Instead of having to rummage through a pile of books, including a copy of the finance minister’s speech, MLAs will be given a folder of CDs containing all the details of the budget.The AP Assembly is the first state legislature in the country to have gone in for digitisatiion. To access content of the budget, all the 294 MLAs of the House will have touch screens at their seats.While Ramnarayana Reddy will present the budget at 12.10 pm in the Assembly, legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu will do the honours in the Council.Ramnarayana Reddy said the budget will reflect the government’s welfare priorities and fulfil the assurances made by the Congress in its manifesto. The budget will be placed before the Cabinet on Friday morning and then sent to the governor for his approval.The debate on the budget will go on for about six days, beginning  February 21.