Major state outlays since LS polls: New govts’ first full Budgets to Maharashtra’s pre-poll sops

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government’s first full Budget for 2024-25, totalling Rs 2.91 lakh crore, last month.

CM Revanth Reddy described the Budget as “welfare- and farmer-friendly,” noting allocations to the agriculture and allied sectors, including the poll promise of a loan waiver of Rs 2 lakh for each eligible farmer.

While the Rs 72,659 crore allocation to agriculture accounts for the biggest chunk of the total Budget outlay at 24.9%, the next large allocations were for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) welfare at Rs 50,180 crore, rural development at Rs 29,816 crore, and the irrigation projects at Rs 22,301 crore. The Budget also set aside Rs 9,200 crore for Backward Classes’ welfare, Rs 3,003 crore for minority welfare, and Rs 2,736 crore for women and children’s welfare. The health sector was allotted Rs 11,468 crore.

The government also made additional provisions of Rs 723 crore for subsidised LPG cylinders at Rs 500 each and Rs 2,418 crore for free electricity up to 200 units, which were part of its poll promises.

On the infrastructure front, Rs 5,790 crore was allocated for the roads and buildings department, Rs 10,000 crore for the development of Hyderabad, and Rs 1,525 crore for the development of the Region Ring Road around Hyderabad.

Former CM and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao said the Budget was “unfriendly” to farmers and accused the Congress of discontinuing welfare schemes introduced during his tenure, including Dalit Bandhu, which were notably absent from the 2024-25 Budget.

Rajasthan

Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, who holds the finance portfolio, last month presented the 2024-25 Budget, highlighting the BJP government’s focus on “10 key resolutions”, including making Rajasthan a $350-billion economy.

The Budget includes the allocation of Rs 65,106 crore for education, sports, art and culture – an increase from Rs 59,617 crore allocation on this score in 2023-24. Health was allocated Rs 27,660 crore, up from Rs 23,973 crore. Water supply, sanitation, housing and urban development received Rs 28,398 crore, an increase from Rs 22,217 crore. Rural development and the Special Area Programme was allotted Rs 20,784 crore, up from Rs 17,846 crore last year. Irrigation, flood control, energy and petroleum was allocated Rs 40,773 crore, marginally up from Rs 40,421 crore. Transport was allocated Rs 13,436 crore, an increase from Rs 12,381 crore.

Among the major projects announced are the construction of nine greenfield expressways covering 2,750 km, a promise to fill 4 lakh vacancies in government jobs, Rs 15,000 crore to provide tap water to 25 lakh rural households, and the acceleration of the greenfield Kota airport project that is estimated to generate 50,000 jobs.

While the BJP said the Budget would put the state on the path to become developed by 2047, the Opposition Congress said it was an “illusion of figures and words” that did not address inflation and unemployment.

Madhya Pradesh

The BJP government last month presented the 2024-25 Budget with an outlay of Rs 3.65 lakh crore marking a 16% increase from the previous year. Finance Minister Jagdish Devda described the Budget as “sarvsparshi (all-inclusive)”.

Among the allocations that saw an increase include Rs 26,560 crore for women child development, up from Rs 14,686 crore last year; Rs 53,460 crore for infrastructure, up from Rs 49,009 crore; and Rs 44,588 crore for urban and rural development, up from Rs 39,326 crore.

On the welfare front, the ST sub-plan received Rs 40,804 crore and the SC sub-plan Rs 27,900 crore. The BJP government’s flagship ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’, which grants eligible women Rs 1,250 a month, was allocated Rs 18,984 crore.

The education outlay included Rs 15,509 crore for government primary schools, Rs 9,258 crore for middle schools, and Rs 4,567 crore for high and higher secondary schools. The agriculture allocation was Rs 26,126 crore and the health outlay was Rs 46,196 crore.

Senior Congress leader and former CM Kamal Nath, whose party protested during the Assembly session over an alleged nursing college scam, said the Budget was a “betrayal of the public” and did not mention all of the BJP’s poll promises.

Odisha

The newly-elected BJP government in Odisha presented its Rs 2.65-lakh crore Budget for 2024-25 last month. Describing it as a “people’s Budget”, CM Mohan Charan Majhi said it was shaped by consultations with about 12,000 people to prioritise the interests of farmers, women, youth, and the poor.

The allocation for education saw a 19% increase from the previous year to Rs 35,536 crore, accounting for 13.4% of the total Budget. The Rs 33,919 crore allocation to agriculture, a 36% increase from the previous year, and Rs 21,200 crore for health, a 32% increase, were among the largest outlays. The women and child development department was allocated Rs 15,181 crore.

Rural development had the largest outlay at Rs 36,673 crore, an increase of 8% from the previous year, while Panchayati Raj was allocated Rs 26,467 crore.

Infrastructure funding includes Rs 14,111 crore for irrigation and flood control, Rs 13,272 crore for water resources, Rs 9,616 crore for urban development, Rs 3,742 crore for transport, and Rs 3,355 crore for energy.

The principal Opposition BJD’s supremo and ex-CM Naveen Patnaik called it a “name-changer” Budget that retained the BJD’s schemes but removed any references to the party and its late founder Biju Patnaik, after whom dozens of schemes were named.

Maharashtra

After presenting the interim Budget in February for the first four months of the 2024-25 financial year, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in June presented a supplementary Budget – which raised the total expenditure to Rs 6.12 lakh crore – for the Mahayuti government ahead of the Assembly elections.

The pre-poll Budget introduced the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, which provides Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women, with an annual cost of Rs 46,000 crore. The government also committed itself to covering 100% of the tuition and exam fees for higher education of girls from Backward Classes and economically weaker sections.

Education, sports, arts and culture was allocated Rs 98,985 crore or 16.4% of its total expenditure. The outlay for health and family welfare was Rs 27,748 crore, accounting for 4.6% of the total.

The infrastructure outlay included Rs 42,415 crore for transport, of which Rs 37,898 crore was for roads and bridges. Rural development was allocated Rs 23,782 crore, while urban development got Rs 22,759 crore.

With the Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme and several sops for farmers, the Mahayuti alliance is hoping to boost its chances in the Assembly polls, especially after its poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls. The Shiv Sena (UBT), a member of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) said the Budget was “not financially viable” and called the newly announced schemes “false promises”.