Mumbai: Sops for women, subsidies and schemes for farmers, new corporations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), a commission for conservation of cows, and an emphatic effort to claim the undivided Shiv Sena’s icon — Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji — as that of the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government. These are some of the highlights of Devendra Fadnavis’s first budget as state finance minister.
Shinde hailed the budget as representative of his government “which works for the common people and farmers”. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed the budget as “gajar halwa” (a sweet dish made of carrots) ahead of local polls expected to be held across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, this year.
Speaking to reporters after his budget speech, Fadnavis, who is also deputy CM, said: “What is the opposition’s job? They would have written down four or five reactions (to the budget) in the morning, but our budget left them speechless, so they are now calling it a chunavi jumla (election ploy).”
He further said he had presented a budget of Rs 5.47 lakh crore for 2023-24, and termed it the “beginning of Maharashtra’s Amrit Kaal (golden age)”.
According to the budget document, the state has made a provision of Rs 53,058.55 crore for infrastructure development, Rs 43,036 crore for women, tribals and backward classes, and Rs 29,163 crore for farmers, among other allocations.
Also read: Why Devendra Fadnavis of 2022 isn’t the same as in 2014
Schemes related to Chhatrapati Shivaji
When Bal Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena in 1966, he had named it as the “army of Chhatrapati Shivaji”, with the party considering the Maratha ruler as its icon.
Since the campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been using Shivaji as its mascot with ambitions of growing aggressively in Maharashtra as the state’s single-largest party, irking its then ally, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
The BJP last year helped Shinde, who led a rebellion of Sena MLAs, form a government in Maharashtra with Shinde as CM. Last month, the Election Commission recognised the Shinde faction as the official “Shiv Sena” and granted it the party’s “bow and arrow” symbol. With that, it has now become even more important for the Shiv Sena-BJP government to emphasise Chhatrapati Shivaji as its icon.
The Maharashtra BJP tweeted budget highlights from its official handle Thursday evening. One of them said: “Honourable deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has presented a budget to people that is true to the saying ‘Shivchhatrapatincha ashirwad, chala deu Modi na saath (with Shiv Chhatrapati’s blessings, let’s support Modi).”
'शिवछत्रपतींचा आशीर्वाद चला देऊ मोदींना साथ' या उक्तीला सार्थ ठरवणारा अर्थसंकल्प मा. उपमुख्यमंत्री @Dev_Fadnavis यांनी जनतेसमोर मांडला. महाराजांची कीर्ती उद्याची पिढीला अनुभवता यावी यासाठी महायुती सरकार तत्पर #MahaBudget2023 pic.twitter.com/gwVOC38OM4
— भाजपा महाराष्ट्र (@BJP4Maharashtra) March 9, 2023
In the budget, Fadnavis has allocated Rs 950 crore for various projects related to Chhatrapati Shivaji.
The finance minister has set aside Rs 350 crore for a week-long celebration (2 to 9 June this year) of the 350th year of the coronation of Shivaji, and Rs 50 crore for a theme park on Chhatrapati Shivaji at Ambegaon in Pune district. Another Rs 250 crore has been allocated for the development of public works with audio-visual media facilities to exhibit the Maratha warrior king’s life story at Mumbai, Amravati, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (erstwhile Aurangabad) and Nagpur, according to the budget document.
Besides, the state government will set up a museum on Shivaji’s life at his birthplace Shivneri Fort, with an outlay of Rs 300 crore.
‘Namo’ scheme & cow commission
As state finance minister, Fadnavis brought back or extended some schemes he had introduced while he was Maharashtra CM between 2014 and 2019, as well as rolled out new initiatives for farmers.
One is the ‘Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi’, which seeks to supplement the Modi government’s Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanman Nidhi Yojana by handing out Rs 6,000 as financial aid to every farmer in addition to the central government’s Rs 6,000.
Fadnavis set aside Rs 6,900 crore for the scheme for the upcoming fiscal, saying it will benefit 1.15 crore farmer families.
According to the budget, the Maharashtra government will also bear the 2 per cent insurance premium payable by farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and provide a Rs 15,000 incentive per hectare to paddy farmers.
In the budget, Fadnavis has brought back his pet Jalyukta Shivar project, which aims to make Maharashtra drought-free by increasing the soil’s moisture content. The project was discontinued by the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
The deputy CM has extended another scheme he had started, ‘Magel Tyala Shettale’ (farm ponds on demand), to orchards on demand, drip irrigation on demand, paddy fields on demand, greenhouses and shed nets on demand, and so on.
The state government has further budgeted for setting up a ‘Maharashtra Goseva Commission’ to implement and monitor laws related to cattle conservation as well as undertake projects of embryo fertilisation and transplantation to protect various indigenous breed of cattle.
Tax sops for women, new corporations for OBCs
Fadnavis Thursday announced various tax sops and schemes for women in his budget. A day earlier, he had stated that the Maharashtra government would soon announce its fourth comprehensive policy for women.
The state will launch the ‘Lek Ladki’ (beloved daughter) scheme, under which it will give subsidy to all yellow and orange ration-card holder families of Rs 5,000 on the birth of a girl child, another Rs 4,000 when she reaches the first standard in school, then Rs 6,000 in the sixth standard, Rs 8,000 in the eleventh standard and Rs 75,000 when the daughter becomes an adult.
Women will also get a 50 per cent discount on all ticket fares of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses and a waiver in professional tax on a salary of up to Rs 25,000.
Up to 55 new hostels for working women and a soon-to-be-announced women-centric tourism policy are also in the works.
For the economic development of the Lingayat community, the Gurava community, the Ramoshis and the Wadar community, Fadnavis announced new corporations with a share capital of Rs 50 crore each.
Besides, the deputy CM said the government would set up welfare boards for unorganised workers and the state’s auto rickshaw and taxi-drivers as well as owners.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also read: After Thackeray Sena launches yatra, Shinde’s party plans own Maharashtra tour with ‘bow & arrow’