Over 11 per cent jump in MHA budget, Rs 83,000 crore for 2017-18

The Home Ministry has got Rs 83,823.30 crore for 2017-18 which is 11.24 per cent more than Rs 75,355.48 crore for 2016-17. There has been a significant increase in outlay for various schemes of the Ministry including a whopping Rs 4,008.06 crore, 33 per cent up from Rs 3,012.98 crore, allocation for building projects of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Central Police Organisations.

In the budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament, an allocation of Rs 1,220 crore was made under security related expenditure schemes for Jammu and Kashmir, North East and Left-Wing Extremism affected states.

A total of Rs 54,985.11 crore has been allocated to seven paramilitary forces as against about Rs 52,443 crore for the ongoing fiscal.

Among them, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), deployed for internal security, action against Maoists and operations against militants, has been earmarked the highest at Rs 17,868.53 crore.

Border Security Force (BSF), which guards Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangladesh borders, will get Rs 15,569.11 crore while Central Industrial Security Force, responsible for security of country’s airports, nuclear installations, key government buildings and private entities, has been allocated Rs 6,686.25 crore.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), tasked with protecting the Sino-Indian border, has got an outlay of Rs 4,824.31 crore and Assam Rifles, deployed in Indo-Myanmar border and dealing with insurgents in the north east, will get Rs 4,801.84 crore.

Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan border, has been earmarked Rs 4,320.67 crore while National Security Guard (NSG), the anti-terror commando force, got an allocation of Rs 816.10 crore. The budget allocated Rs 2,355.68 crore for erection of barbed wire fencing, construction of roads and induction of hi-tech surveillance on Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Pak borders.

There have been several instances in recent past when terrorists from Pakistan breached the border and carried out terror attacks.

The Intelligence Bureau, responsible for gathering internal intelligence, has been allocated Rs 1,577.07 crore while Special Protection Group, which guards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, her children Rahul and Priyanka, will get Rs 389.25 crore.

National Intelligence Grid, which aims to link databases as an input in combating terrorism and intends to create a facility to improve capability to counter internal security threats, has an outlay of Rs 45.57 crore.

A total of Rs 66 crore has been provided for Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVRFT)–a project to develop and implement a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travelers, while strengthening security.

Under disaster management schemes, the increase is Rs 1,009.29 crore, 7.3 per cent more than Rs 941.93 crore for 2016-17.

Under Land Port Authority of India, the increase is 241 per cent. An allocation of Rs 300 crore has been made for 2017-18 as against Rs 88 crore for the ongoing fiscal.

About Rs 1,206 crore has been earmarked for relief and rehabilitation of migrants and repatriates for 2017-18, a jump of 32 per cent from Rs 910 crore given for the ongoing fiscal.

Rs 2,983 crore has been kept in the budget for “providing support for research activities” in the Home Ministry.

Rs 50 crore has been allocated under Nirbhaya fund for safety of women.

The expenditure will also include back-end integration of distress signals from victims with the help of mobile vans and control rooms (now renamed as National Emergency Response System) besides various other schemes for safety of women by Delhi Police.

Under the Border Area Development Programme, the increase is 11 per cent from Rs 990 crore to Rs 1,100 crore. About Rs 244 crore allocation has been made under border outposts. The grant is 17 per cent more than Rs 209.78 crore given for 2017-18.