Digvijay budget eyes elections

A non-political budget is how MP Finance Minister Ajay Musharan termed it, but nothing could be further from truth. In a clear indication of...

A non-political budget is how MP Finance Minister Ajay Musharan termed it, but nothing could be further from truth. In a clear indication of the main thrust of CM Digvijay Singh’s election strategy, sarpanchs and a host of panchayat and zila panchayat-level officials were granted hikes in allowances for the first time in several years.

The new leadership that has come to the fore in the wake of the panchayati raj reforms owes direct loyalty to Digvijay and it is believed that their role will be crucial in the Assembly elections to be held later this year. In some ways, they are Digvijay’s answer to the mass mobilisation that the Sangh Parivar can manage.

Thought has also been given to the most potent electoral symbol in MP at the moment — the cow. The budget for the Gau Sewa Ayog has been more than doubled from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 150 lakh.

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Heads of zila panchayats will see their monthly allowance go up from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000, heads of janpads will see a hike from Rs 750 to Rs 1,250, sarpanchs from Rs 150 to Rs 350, while locally appointed panchayat officials will see their allowances rise from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,250. In addition, an outlay of Rs 117 crore has been earmarked for panchayat finances.

Similarly, the hike from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,250 in the monthly allowances of the 31,000 locally-appointed gurujis under the education guarantee schemes again targets a cadre at the village level.

The other major thrust area of the budget is programmes targeted at the SCs and STs, which could again play a crucial role in the elections as they make up more than 35 per cent of the electorate.

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