New Delhi: A substantial increase in allocations for the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), education, and research — these were the highlights of budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the Union Budget 2024-25 announced Tuesday.
Overall, the allocation for the MHA — the nodal ministry for all state police forces and central investigative agencies, such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) — was increased to Rs 2.19 lakh crore from Rs 2.02 lakh crore in the interim budget. This was nearly Rs 17,000 crore more than the allocation in the interim budget that was announced in February, ahead of the general elections, for the ongoing financial year.
Additionally, the budgetary allocations to upgrade the central government forensic science laboratory (CFSL) and set up the National Forensic Data Centre were raised 27 times compared to the revised allocation for the last financial year.
However, the budgetary allocation for census, which was initially scheduled to take place in 2021, was Rs 1,309 crore, more than double the revised estimates for the last year’s annual budget. However, it was less than the estimated allocation in last year’s budget at 1,564 crore, which was half the amount allocated in the budget for 2021-22, when the Union government had allocated Rs 3,768 crore towards the exercise. It is not clear if the government will be able to conduct a census within the current financial year.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that the budget focused on improving the ease of doing business and entrepreneurship and simplifying the income tax slabs for the benefit of the public.
The budget reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “unwavering commitment to take the country’s economic development to new heights by further promoting ease of doing business and entrepreneurship. Besides, tax rules have also been simplified in this budget, which will bring great ease to the taxpayers”, he wrote in a post on X.
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BSF tech takes cut, IB’s allocation beefed
While in February, the ministry of finance had earmarked around Rs 151 crore — nearly double the revised estimates for the previous financial year — for the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the full budget did not include any allocations for the federal agency. Sources in the ministry said this was because I4C had ceased to exist as a Union government scheme starting 1 July and began working as part of the MHA.
The I4C was approved in October 2018 to streamline communication between law enforcement agencies and to assist states and Union territories in their fight against cybercrime. The budget for that agency was raised from just Rs 18.80 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 86.94 crore, as per the revised estimates for 2023-24.
Similarly, the plan to upgrade the technology of the Border Security Force (BSF) may be delayed after allocations for the BSF Air Wing, aircraft, riverboats and helibases were reduced in this year’s budget. The finance ministry had estimated an allocation of Rs 263.58 crore for the upgrade, but the main budget slashed the overlay to approximately Rs 164 crore.
However, the budgetary allocation for IB was increased from the interim budget. The interim budget allocated nearly Rs 3,195 crore to the agency. The main budget Tuesday increased this to Rs 3,823 crore for this year.
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More funds for education, training and research
The Union government also increased the funding to the MHA for education, training and research, which has been on the rise over the last few years and increased to Rs 1,348.35 crore for the ongoing financial year from Rs 270.5 crore in the actual budget for 2022-23.
The funding was nearly doubled in the revised allocation last year from Rs 440.80 crore to Rs 887.56 crore in the interim budget for this year. Tuesday’s allocation was nearly 50 percent higher than the interim budgetary allocation.
This comes after the Centre implemented three new criminal laws, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, replacing the British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC). Delhi Police, which comes under the MHA, trained more than 30,000 personnel under the provisions and protocols of the new laws before they came into force on 1 July.
However, the funding for the Delhi Police remains nearly the same as the interim budget in February, when it was decreased to Rs 11,180.33 crore from Rs 11,940 crore in last year’s budget.
The budget increased the allocation to upgrade CFSLs and to set up the National Forensic Data Centre to Rs 55 crore from Rs 2.70 crore in Budget 2023-24. Of the Rs 55 crore, Rs 50 crore was earmarked for capital expenditure.
This push for forensic science was introduced in the last budget when the Union government allocated Rs 700 crore for the “modernisation” of forensic facilities. Last month, the Union government announced the National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme with a financial outlay of Rs 2,254 crore for the next four financial years between 2024-25 and 2028-29.
Funds for the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) — the country’s master intelligence database for counter terrorism — have remained the same compared to last year’s budget and the interim budget.
CISF gets the biggest hike among CAPFs
The budgetary allocations for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), which include the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), BSF, CISF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), Assam Rifles, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), was increased by over Rs 2,000 crore.
The funds allocated to the CAPFs were raised to Rs 96,950 crore this year from the revised estimates of Rs 94,740 crore in last year’s budget, and, among all the forces, the CISF was the biggest beneficiary of the increased allocation of nearly Rs 1,400 crore from the revised estimates for last year’s budget. Their budgetary allocation was increased to Rs 14,331 crore compared to the previous financial year’s allocation of Rs 12,929 crore.
Notably, this enhanced budget comes against the backdrop of the CISF being assigned the entire security responsibility of the Parliament complex, replacing the CRPF and the Parliament Security Service (PSS).
The BSF, on the other hand, saw its allocations increase to Rs 25,472 crore compared to revised estimates of Rs 25,038 crore in the last financial year.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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