Budget allocation: With increase of 5.69%, MHA outlay sees big jump as focus shifts to Census, IB

The Intelligence Bureau’s funding has soared by nearly 70 per cent to Rs 6,782 crore, driven largely by a huge jump in capital spending from Rs 306.07 crore to Rs 2,549.54 crore. Officials said the steep hike signals an upgrading of intelligence‑gathering systems, surveillance infrastructure and data analytics capabilities.

The border infrastructure and management has received a record Rs 5,576.51 crore, including a massive Rs 5,266.51 crore capital from Rs 5,237.93-crore outlay to improve infrastructure at check-posts along fencing, observation towers, and hi‑tech surveillance systems along the Indo‑Pakistan and Indo‑Bangladesh borders and enhance surveillance capabilities. Of this amount, Rs 310 crore is earmarked for maintenance and border check-posts.

Budget allocation for the Census, Survey and Statistics/Registrar General of India (RGI), soars from Rs 574.80 crore in 2025-26 to Rs 6,000 crore in FY27 — a fourteen-fold increase. The developmental head for Census Surveys and Statistics sees a matching jump to Rs 5,762.79 crore from Rs 509.86 crore, underscoring the Centre’s push to relaunch the long-pending enumeration exercise, last conducted in 2011.

Since the announcement of the Census exercise and its deferment due to the pandemic in 2020, the deadline for freezing of jurisdictional boundaries has been extended multiple times. Last year, the Centre had issued a gazetted notification, declaring that a Census of the population of India will be carried out in 2027.

Officials said the expanded allocation will fund digital enumeration systems, logistics, and workforce mobilisation for the nationwide count. “This is preparatory groundwork for India’s largest data exercise,” a senior government official, who is aware of the planning process, said.

The police head alone received Rs 1,73,802.53 crore — nearly 68 per cent of the total ministry spending, aiming for better infrastructure, sophisticated weapons, and training. The CAPFs together receive Rs 1.16,789.30 crore, up by over 11 per cent from two years ago. “This provision is form meeting administrative expenditures of the CAPFs; CRPF, BSF, NSG, ITBP, CISF, SSB, Assam Rifle and departmental accounting organisations attached with these forces. The provision under the Capital section is meant for procurement of machinery and equipment and motor vehicles,” the budget said.

Among them, the CRPF leads with Rs 38,517.93 crore, an increase from Rs 34,020.58 crore in 2024-25 followed by the BSF with Rs 29,567.64 crore as compared with Rs 27,938.53 crore in 2024-25. The CISF with Rs 15,973.85 crore after accounting for recoveries, receives from Rs 14,689.74 crore in 2024-25. The Indo‑Tibetan Border Police, deployed along the China border, saw a 21.3 per cent jump in its budget to Rs 11,324.08 crore from Rs 9,337.24 crore.

The National Security Guard (NSG), India’s elite counter‑terror unit, received Rs 1,422.47 crore, from Rs 1,095.91 crore in 2024-25.

In a marked policy expansion, women’s safety programmes have been allocated Rs 889.05 crore in 2026-27, up from Rs 286.42 crore in actual spending during 2024-25. The Delhi Police has been granted Rs 12,503.65 crore for 2026-27, comprising Rs 11,881.55 crore in revenue expenditure and Rs 622.10 crore in capital expenditure, while the Jammu & Kashmir Police sees a 16 per cent rise to Rs 9,925.50 crore (Rs 9,428.13 crore revenue, Rs 497.37 crore capital), both reflecting heightened local security demands.

In a post on X, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “I congratulate PM Modi on the remarkable landmark set by the #ViksitBharatBudget with the resounding reaffirmation of the Modi government’s commitment to drive growth and development with fiscal prudence. This budget fulfils the target of keeping the fiscal deficit below 4.5%.”