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Yogi govt dedicates Uttar Pradesh budget to Ram, says it will ensure ‘lok mangal’
In run-up to Lok Sabha polls, Uttar Pradesh’s ₹7.36-lakh crore budget gives priority to infrastructure development, education and welfare
Lord Ram and Ram Rajya were the focal points during presentation of the ₹7.36-lakh crore Uttar Pradesh budget for 2024-25, which is said to be the biggest in the state’s history and gives priority to infrastructure development, education as well as the welfare of women, youths and farmers.
Coming in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections and a fortnight after the consecration of the Ram Lalla idol in Ayodhya, the Yogi 2.0 government’s third annual budget included new schemes of ₹24,863.57 crore.
The budget (the eighth by the Yogi government across two terms) is dedicated to Lord Ram for lok mangal (public welfare), chief minister Yogi Adityanath said.
He also said it is a step towards making Uttar Pradesh a trillion-dollar economy in the coming years. The state budget size for 2024-25 is ₹46,195.28 crore (6.7 per cent) more than the budget size of ₹6,90,242.43 crore in 2023-24.
Presenting the budget in the state legislative assembly, Uttar Pradesh minister for finance Suresh Khanna began his address with a couplet from the Ramcharitmanas to describe how Yogi is bound to get credit for the state’s prosperity.
The state government was inspired by the concept of Ram Rajya and its policies were focused on the uplift of the youth, the women, the farmers and the poor, Khanna said.
In sync with the Ram Rajya philosophy, Khanna declared that the Uttar Pradesh was now free of organised crime and the state government had raised 6 crore (60 million) people above the poverty line while the unemployment rate was only 2.4 per cent. Signifying a continued focus on development, the state budget has proposed capital expenditure of ₹2.04 lakh crore and revenue expenditure of ₹5,32,655.33 crore. The capital outlay of ₹1,54,747.47 crore will lead to creation of assets and employment avenues, a senior official said.
“We have rejected the narrative that Uttar Pradesh was a Bimaru state,” Khanna said.
Projecting the modern, progressive face of the state, Khanna said Uttar Pradesh has climbed to second spot in ease of doing business from the 14th position earlier. Entrepreneurs were making exports worth ₹2 lakh crore, said the minister whose 36-page address carried many couplets and was read out in about an hour and 16 minutes.
He also announced that aerocity would be developed in Lucknow on the pattern of Delhi in a 1500-acre area with seven-star hotels, parks and world-class convention centres.
He also said the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has already given approval to the state’s own Semiconductor Policy-2024, which aims at providing incentives to investors, making U.P. a hub of semiconductor ecosystem and aiding the country’s push towards chip manufacturing.
The budget has allocated ₹1,750 crore for the development of ‘dharmarthmarg’ (roads to religious places), set a target of 5.1 per cent growth rate for the agriculture sector in the state and earmarked for ₹4,000 crore for distribution of tablets/smart phones to students under the Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme.
He said a sum of ₹100 crore has been earmarked for all-round development of Ayodhya and ₹2500 crore given for creating world-class facilities at Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj.
While infrastructure development gets ₹16,94,46.60 crore or 25 per cent of the total budget size, ₹1,03,494.81 crore (17 percent of the budget) has been earmarked for education including primary, secondary, higher and technical education.
The allocation for agriculture, horticulture, rural development, cooperative and water supply is ₹89,298.15 crore or 13 per cent of the budget.
Similarly, the allocation for social welfare ₹33,288.66 crore or 5% of the budget.
The budget speech remained silent on the GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) growth.
There are, however, indications that GSDP will grow 5.83 per cent at current prices in 2024-25. In 2022-23, the GSDP was ₹22,57,575 crore. The state government’s budgetary estimates for 2023-24 had projected a GSDP of ₹24,39,171 crore. This, however, came down to ₹23,61,462 crore in the Revised Estimates, indicating GSDP growth of 4.60% in 2023-24.
The state government’s analysis of the annual budget indicates a fiscal deficit of ₹86,530.51 crore, which is 3.46 per cent of GSDP in 2024-25. About the receipts and expenditure under various heads, Khanna said the state government would receive a revenue of ₹7,21,333.82 crore and spend ₹7,36,437.71 crore. This leaves a deficit of ₹15,103.89 crore.
The state government proposes to take ₹5500 crore from the public account to leave a net deficit of ₹9603.89 crore. Out of the total receipts of ₹7.21 lakh crore, the state government estimates revenue receipts of ₹6.07 lakh crore and capital receipts of ₹1.14 lakh crore. The state’s own tax revenue is estimated to be ₹2.70 lakh
crore.
Khanna referred to successful organisation of the U.P. Global Investors Summit-2023 in February 2023, G-20 meetings and World Cup-2023 matches in the state to make his point about the law and order and said panic buttons would be ensured in buses and taxis in the state.
He also said air travel has gone up by 19.2 per cent in the state and a sum of ₹1100 crore has been earmarked for construction and expansion of airstrips.
Various other announcements included allocation of ₹22,000 crore for the Jal Jeevan Mission, ₹7350 crore for National Rural Health Mission, ₹5500 crore for construction and maintenance of roads under central road fund and ₹2881 crore for broadening of highways.
An additional sum of ₹800 crore has been earmarked for four-laning of roads connecting industrial/logistics parks.
A sum of ₹3850 crore has been earmarked for construction of railways overbridges, underpasses and rural bridges. To ease traffic congestion, ₹1000 crore has been earmarked for construction of flyovers in cities.
A sum of ₹1000 crore has been earmarked for the farmers accident welfare scheme while ₹700 crore has been allocated for the Kanya Sumangala Yojana.
