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UP announces state Niti Aayog, ₹10K crore for new schemes in budget
As this is the second last budget of the Yogi government before Uttar Pradesh heads to elections in early 2022, the budget earmarked funds for ongoing schemes to ensure their early completion besides proposing new ones for the development of infrastructure.
The Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday announced the formation of a state Niti Ayog and new schemes worth ₹10,967.87 crore in its fourth annual budget (2020-2021) of ₹5,12,860.72 crore, presented in the state assembly by finance minister Suresh Khanna.
“A state Niti Ayog, replacing the state planning commission, will be set up on the pattern of the Centre to work out a road map for integrated and sustainable development of the state. A network will be developed for working and implementing plans at the district level,” Khanna said.
As this is the second last budget of the Yogi government before Uttar Pradesh heads to elections in early 2022, the budget earmarked funds for ongoing schemes to ensure their early completion besides proposing new ones for the development of infrastructure.
“The budget is dedicated to the youth and takes care of every section of society,”chief minister Adityanath told reporters, terming the budget historic..
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said: “The budget is not historic, it is a ‘historic’ lie. The fourth budget in a way is the last budget of this government. All the four budgets were betrayal of the people. It has zero vision for the Ganga, cows and youth. Samajwadi Party will come back to power with 351 seats in 2022.”
Major allocations made in budget include ₹2,000 crore for development of the 637-km greenfield Ganga Expressway to connect Meerut with Prayagraj, ₹2,000 crore for the Noida International Airport at Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar to be made operational by 2023, ₹500 crore for the development of an airport in Ayodhya, ₹92.50 crore for a regional connectivity scheme, ₹900 crore for the Regional Rapid Transit System from Delhi to Meerut, ₹358 crore for the Kanpur metro, ₹286 crore for the Agra metro, ₹200 crore for a metro network in Gorakhpur and other cities and ₹50 crore for setting up Rashtriya Prerna Sthal in Lucknow.
Two new schemes for apprenticeship promotion and entrepreneurship development -- Yuva Udyamita Vikas Abhiyan (YUVA) -- will be launched in the state. A sum of ₹100 crore has been earmarked for the apprenticeship promotion scheme, ₹50 crore for setting up of a YUVA hub in every district and ₹1,200 crore for entrepreneurship development to make about 100,000 young self-reliant.
Three new universities were announced -- for Saharanpur, Azamgarh and Aligarh -- besides the setting up of Uttar Pradesh Police Forensic University in Lucknow, a law university in Prayagraj and Ayush University in Gorakhpur.
New engineering colleges have been proposed in Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Basti and Gonda. Besides proposing ₹1,500 crore for the construction of residential and non-residential buildings for the police, the budget set aside a sum of ₹122 crore has for modernisation of the state’s police force.
Khanna, in the 36-page speech that he read out in about an hour in the house, said the budget was dedicated to education, skill and infrastructure development and providing employment.
He said the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur has been identified as a partner of the state for using new technology to conserve wildlife. A new palanhar scheme for upbringing of children of specially abled couples has been launched with a token allocation of ₹25 crore. Another token allocation of ₹30 crore has been made for setting up special integrated secondary schools in the state, he said.
A sum of ₹40 crore has been earmarked for free treatment of patients suffering from incurable diseases, Khanna said and added that the state government has set a target of making UP a $1 trillionr economy to make India achieve its goal of becoming a $5-trillion dollar economy by 2024, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With estimated receipts of ₹5,00,558.53 crore and proposed expenditure of ₹5,12,860.72 crore the budget leaves a deficit of ₹12,302.19 crore.
No new taxes or other measures have been proposed to meet the deficit. By adjusting receipts of ₹8,500 crore from the public account, the state government will be left with a negative net balance of ₹3,802.19 crore. The state’s fiscal deficit and state’s total indebtedness are estimated to reach 2.97% of gross state domestic product (GSDP) and 28.8% of GSDP respectively by March 31, 2021.
