In 2022-23, the budget outlay amounted to ₹75,800 crore and ₹69,000 crore, a year before.
Finance Minister Atishi Marlena said in her budget speech in the state assembly that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government is trying to realise the dream of Ram Rajya. “We all present here are inspired by Lord Ram. We have been trying day and night for the last nine years to fulfil this dream of ‘Ram Rajya,’ she said.
This was Atishi’s first budget as finance minister in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government. In 2023, the then finance minister Kailash Gehlot presented Delhi’s annual budget following the arrest of former finance minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case. The 2023 budget was based on the “clean, beautiful, and modern” Delhi theme.
In her budget speech, Atishi remembered Manish Sisodia, and Satyendar Jain, former health minister, for their roles in shaping the education and health models in the national capital.
Both Sisodia and Jain are in jail over cases linked to Delhi liquor policy and money laundering cases. Atishi sought the blessings of Manish Sisodia’s mother and wife before presenting the budget on Monday.
Here are five highlights of the Delhi budget
1. ₹76,000 crore ‘Ram Rajya’ budget
Finance Minister Atishi while presenting the ₹ 76,000 crore budget for FY 24-25 said that the grace of Lord Shri Ram has ensured that there has never been a shortage of funds in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for education, roads, and flyovers in Delhi. She said that in Ram Rajya, nobody will sleep hungry. For this, the Delhi government has allocated a budget of ₹684 crore, Atishi said.
She said Delhi’s GDP was around ₹ 4.95 lakh crore in 2014-15 and has almost tripled to ₹ 11.08 lakh crore in the last 10 years. In 2014-15, Delhi’s per capita income was ₹2.47 lakh, which has increased to ₹4.62 lakh in 2023-24, surpassing the national average by two and a half times.
Also Read: ‘From 2015 to 2022, I heard…’, Atishi seeks blessings from Manish Sisodia’s family before Delhi budget presentation
Atishi also proposed a budget of ₹80 crore for Mukhayamantri Teerthyatra Yojana started in 2019.
2. ₹1,000 per month for every woman
While the focus continued on education, health and other sectors, women also featured in the priority list of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government. Atishi announced a new scheme “Mahila Samman Yojana” in the budget. As per the scheme, every woman above 18 years of age in Delhi will get ₹1,000 per month. The scheme gets a budget allocation of ₹2,000 crore for FY 24-25.
The big budget announcement comes months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. Clearly, the woman-centric cash benefits target Delhi women, the key vote bank, ahead of 2024 polls across India.
A woman will be eligible for the scheme if she is a Delhi voter and is not availing benefits under any other government scheme. She should not be an income taxpayer, too. There are 67,30,371 women voters in the national capital.
Overall, a budget outlay of ₹6,216 crore is proposed for various schemes under the Social Welfare Department, Women and Child Development Department and SC/ST/OBC Welfare department.
3. Reduction in Health Budget
One of the key focus areas of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has been the health department. But this year’s budget saw about a 10.84 per cent decrease in the Delhi government’s allocation towards the health department.
At ₹8,685 crore, the health budget outlay in 24-25 has been reduced by ₹1,057 crore compared to the previous 23-34 fiscal budget of ₹9,742 crore.
There are 38 hospitals where treatment is provided free of cost to more than 81,000 OPD patients daily and 65,806 IPD patients monthly under the Delhi government.
3-Focus on Education
Atishi said that since independence until the government of 2014-15, there were 24,000 classrooms available for children’s education in government schools.
In just nine years, Arvind Kejriwal has built 11,000 new classrooms. In this budget, provision has been made for ₹16,396 crore, which is 21.57 per cent of the total budget expenditure on education. Allocations in the 2023-24 budget included ₹16,575 crore for education
Under the education budget, ₹100 crore has been allocated to the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) for training teachers, and another ₹150 crore has been proposed for the construction of new schools and classrooms.
Another ₹45 crore has been allocated for the maintenance of existing classrooms and ₹42 crore for Schools of Specialised Excellence in the 2024-25 fiscal.
4. Business Blaster Programme
Atishi announced that a budget of ₹15 crore has been allocated for the Business Blaster programme. The scheme, which was implemented in government schools till now, will be implemented in universities and industrial training institutes as well. The state government provides seed money for new startups.
5- New Village Roads
To develop better road infrastructure in the villages, in 2024-25, the Delhi government will lay about 1,000 kilometres of roads in more than 360 villages of Delhi. For the development of the villages of Delhi, a budget of ₹ 900 crore has been proposed in the financial year 2024-25.
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Published: 04 Mar 2024, 03:11 PM IST