Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh Monday announced yet another big budget of Rs 7.36 lakh crore with a thrust on infrastructure and social welfare schemes, months ahead of the general elections.
While the previous budget, the second one by the Yogi 2.0 government, was sized at Rs 6.90 lakh crore, a supplementary budget of Rs 28,760 crore was passed in the winter session of the state assembly in December last year, taking the total estimated value of the budget to Rs 7.19 lakh crore.
However, revised estimates of the budget for 2023-24 available on the UP budget website suggest that the state expects to spend a total of Rs 6.32 lakh crore by 31 March this year — meaning it would remain short of spending the entire amount proposed.
Experts said that it showed poor fiscal marksmanship on the government’s part.
Speaking to ThePrint, Yashvir Tyagi, former head of the economics department at the University of Lucknow, said the difference between the revised estimates and proposed budgetary allocation should be as close as possible.
“The fact that the government has fallen short of spending the entire proposed amount reflects poor marksmanship on it’s part,” he said.
Also Read: Did UP economy do better under Akhilesh than Yogi? A data-check on state’s $1-trillion ambition
5.44% higher capital expenditure proposed
In the budget for financial year 2024-25, the total capital outlay or proposed capital expenditure stands at Rs 1.55 lakh crore, which is 5.44 percent more than the Rs 1.47 lakh crore estimated in the budget for 2023-24.
The revised estimate of capital expenditure for 2023-24 is Rs 1.46 lakh crore, while the actual capital expenditure for the fiscal will be released in 2025.
As part of the capital expenditure, the UP government has made specific allocations in the budget for 2024-25 towards construction of roads, including “dharmarth margs” (roads connecting places of religious tourism), expressways, four-lane roads, rural bridges, rail overbridges, construction and strengthening of airstrips, townships, metro projects in Agra and Kanpur, a textile park, an aqua park, etc.
Tyagi, quoted earlier, said the state government was following a strategy of infrastructure creation coupled with welfare schemes for marginalised sections in line with the central government’s policy to incentivise states that work towards capital expenditure.
“The central government is providing special assistance to state governments in the form of a 50-year interest-free loan over capital expenditure. This is pushing state governments including UP to spend more on capital expenditure,” he said.
Infrastructure & metro projects
While an allocation of Rs 2,058 crore has been made in UP’s budget for 2024-2025 for the under-construction Ganga Expressway, Rs 500 crore has been allocated for a link expressway to connect the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.
A total allocation of Rs 2,881 crore has been made for widening and strengthening of state highways while Rs 1,750 crore has been set aside for dharmarth margs.
Another allocation of Rs 3,000 crore has been made for maintenance of roads while Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 3,000 crore have been allocated for construction and maintenance of roads under the state road fund, respectively.
A total of Rs 800 crore has been allocated for widening and construction of four-lane roads for industrial/logistic parks.
Further, Rs 1,350 crore has been allocated for the construction of rail overbridges and rail underbridges along with Rs 1,000 crore for flyovers across cities to ease traffic congestion.
For construction, expansion and strengthening of airstrips, Rs 1,100 crore has been earmarked, apart from Rs 100 crore being allocated for the expansion of the Ayodhya airport.
An amount of Rs 1,150 crore has been allocated for land acquisition and establishment of Jewar international airport in Noida.
The Agra and Kanpur metro projects have got an allocation of Rs 346 crore and Rs 395 crore, respectively, while Rs 914 crore have been allocated for a rapid rail transit system project that will link Meerut with Delhi.
Moreover, a total amount of Rs 100 crore has been allocated for all-round development of Ayodhya while development of capital Lucknow and ropeway services in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi has got a total of Rs 100 crore.
An allocation of Rs 400 crore has been made for a medical college in Varanasi while a National Institute of Fashion Technology proposed in the district has got an allocation of Rs 150 crore.
Social welfare dominates budget
An amount of Rs 17,662 crore has been proposed for the Anna Purti Yojana while an allocation of Rs 2,200 crore has been made for refill of LPG gas cylinders for Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries.
Under the old age pension scheme, an amount of Rs 7,377 crore has been allocated for pension to the elderly while grant to destitute women has been increased to Rs 1,000 from Rs 500. A total of Rs 4,073 crore has been reserved for this. Further, Rs 1,170 crore has been allocated under the state’s Divyang pension scheme.
For the uplift of handloom and powerloom weavers, an amount of Rs 400 crore has been allocated under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Powerloom Weaver Electricity Flat Rate Scheme.
The state government has also increased the advocate welfare fund from Rs 250 crore to Rs 500 crore in this budget.
The nutrition programme has got a total budgetary allocation of Rs 5,129 crore while the government has proposed a total of Rs 700 crore for Kanya Sumangala Yojana that aims to end female foeticide and stop child marriage.
Another allocation of Rs 97 crore has been made for honorariums to anganwadi workers and their assistants.
The government also proposed to buy more fleet of buses for free travel of women during Raksha Bandhan and has allocated Rs 500 crore for this purpose.
Doles to farmers, augmentation of irrigation facilities
The government has set aside Rs 460 crore for three new schemes for farmers — Rs 200 crore each for Krishi Vikas Yojana and UP Agri Yojana and Rs 60 crore for setting up of automatic weather stations.
Further, Rs 2,500 crore has been allocated for supplying electricity to private tubewells of farmers at concessional rates — an increase of 25 per cent from the last budget, according to UP finance minister Suresh Khanna.
For providing crop loans at low interest rates through primary cooperative credit societies, an allocation of Rs 525 crore has been proposed.
For the PM KUSUM scheme that aims to provide sources of irrigation to farmers and to de-dieselise the agriculture sector, an allocation of Rs 449 crore has been made. Under the CM Khet Suraksha Yojana, Rs 60 crore has been set aside.
For the establishment of Mahatma Buddha Agriculture and Technology University in Kushinagar, Rs 100 crore has been allocated. For milk cooperatives or dugdh sanghs, an amount of Rs 107 crore has been given, while Rs 74 crore has been earmarked under Nand Baba Milk Mission — an increase of 21 per cent from last year, according to Khanna.
Scholarships and student welfare
The UP government has made allocations for children, including Rs 650 crore for provision of sweaters, shoes and socks and Rs 350 crore for school bags. Moreover, Rs 1,000 crore has been allocated for Operation Kayakalp, under which infrastructure of upper primary schools is being revamped.
Up to Rs 255 crore has been allocated for the enrolment of two lakh children from disadvantaged groups into schools, while Rs 498 crore has been set aside for setting up of digital laboratories in gram panchayats.
For scholarships to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe students, a total amount of Rs 1,862 crore has bene proposed while Rs 2,475 has been proposed for scholarships to students from Other Backward Classes.
An amount of Rs 600 crore has been proposed for CM Samuhik Vivah Yojana and Rs 516 crore has been reserved for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, to equip government secondary schools with basic facilities, smart classes and labs.
A total of Rs 51 crore has been allocated to set up state universities and Rs 819 crore has been earmarked for construction of modern workshops and classrooms in 69 government industrial training institutes.
Several projects for places of religious importance have also been proposed in the budget. For instance, the Mahakumbh 2025 has got Rs 100 crore as allocation.
Further, Rs 11.79 crore has been allocated for establishment of a music college in Azamgarh, apart from allocation of Rs 10.53 crore for establishment of Maharishi Valmiki cultural centre in Chitrakoot. Up to Rs 14.68 crore has been proposed for establishment of Nishad Raj Guha Sanskritik Kendra in Shringverpur.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: ‘Bhagirath-like effort needed’ as Yogi 2.0 revives trillion-dollar economy dream for UP