E-Paper
Union Budget 2021: A look at allocations made to major schemes
Despite concerns about a weak rural economy, the government has not provided any large boost to schemes focused on creating jobs and providing services to the rural population. Here's a look at the allocation made to major schemes in the Union Budget 2021
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented the Union Budget for the next financial year. Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to aid the recovery of the economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Her budget speech in Parliament began at 11 am, in which the finance minister highlighted the difficulties India and other global economies faced due to Covid-19. Sitharaman also announced the allocations made for various schemes in the budget. Despite concerns about a weak rural economy, the government has not provided any large boost to schemes focused on creating jobs and providing services to the rural population. This is a reflection of the stretched government finances as revenue collections are weak because of the pandemic and the nationwide lockdown. Here's a look at the allocation made to major schemes in the Union Budget 2021:
MNREGA scheme: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the social security scheme that aims to guarantee the 'right to work' by giving livelihood security in rural areas through 100 days of wage employment, has received an allocation of 73.000 crores for the financial year 2021-2022. In the last budget the scheme that was passed in September 2005 under the UPA government of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had received an allocation of 111500 crores.
PM KISAN scheme: Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sammann Nidhi scheme through which farmers get up to ₹6,000 per year as minimum income support has also witnessed a lower allocation of ₹54,370.15 crore this fiscal, as against the budget projection of ₹75,000 crore because of implementation hurdles in some states, according to the Budget document. The flagship scheme was announced by Piyush Goyal during the 2019 Interim Union Budget of India.
National Education Mission: The government announced a budget of ₹38,572 crore for its National Education Mission which comprises the Centrally sponsored schemes for education under which it allocates funds to the states and union territories. The budget amount is an increase from last year’s ₹32,334 crore. National Education Mission (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) which was launched in 2018, comprises of four schemes: Saakshar Bharat, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education.
National Health Mission: The government has added Rs.64,180 crore to be invested over 6 years to improve primary, secondary and tertiary health care in addition to National Health Mission. The National Health Mission (NHM) was launched in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission.
Jal Jeevan Mission: The government announced the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ with an outlay of ₹2.87 lakh crore for 4,378 urban local bodies. Jal Jeevan Mission is aimed to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.
Metro Projects: In a boost to the metro projects, the government announced an allocation of 18,998 crores for the next fiscal year. In the previous budget, the government had allocated 6,484 crores to the metro development projects.
Swachh Bharat Mission: The Urban Swachh Bharat scheme will be implemented with an outlay of over Rs. 1.4 lakh crore. The programmewill be focused on complete fecal sludge management, wastewater treatment, source segregation, management of waste from urban construction and bioremediation of legacy dump sites.
