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Yogi govt unveils ₹6.5 lakh crore budget
The budget for 2022-23, the first annual budget under Adityanath’s second term as the chief minister, fulfils 97 out of 130 promises in the BJP’s Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra.
Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh will spend ₹6.15 lakh crore in the financial year 2022-23, state finance minister Suresh Khanna said in his Budget speech on Thursday, adding that 25% of the total amount has been earmarked for capital spending.
The budget for 2022-23, the first annual budget under Adityanath’s second term as the chief minister, fulfils 97 out of 130 promises in the BJP’s Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, besides earmarking funds for metro rail projects, energy sector and development of religious places, including Ayodhya, Varanasi, Chitrakoot and Prayagraj, the minister said in his budget speech.
To be sure, revised estimates (RE) for 2021-22, which were presented along with budget estimate (BE) numbers for 2022-23, show the Uttar Pradesh government only spent 88% of the amount it had promised to spend in 2021-22. One of the reasons why the state’s spending did not live up to its 2021-22 budgetary promise seems to be a 7% shortfall in total receipts compared to what was budgeted.
This year’s Budget also shows that Uttar Pradesh is on a path of fiscal consolidation with the budgeted fiscal deficit for 2022-23 being 3.96% compared to a budget estimate of 4.72% for 2021-22. To be sure, the state will still have the challenge of bringing down its debt to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) ratio, which is expected to be 32.5% in 2022-23. While this is an improvement compared to the 2021-22 (RE) level of 34.5%, it is still higher than the 29.1% value in 2020-21.
New schemes worth ₹39,181.10 crore have been proposed in the budget, which Adityanath described as “aspirational”.
A sum of ₹1,500 crore has been earmarked for distribution of 20 million smartphones and tablets to the youth in the next five years, the finance minister announced. Another ₹747 crore has been allocated for Kanpur Metrol rail project while ₹100 crore has been earmarked for the metro rail projects of Varanasi and Gorakhpur. Another ₹1,306 crore has been earmarked for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS (rapid rail transit system) Corridor.
“The economy of the state is improving rapidly. We believe that we will be successful in taking the state’s economy to $1 trillion (in the next five years),” Khanna said while tabling the budget. “We have made allocations for schemes from our resources in such a balanced manner that besides development in these areas, it also contributes to the all-round development of the state.”
A sum of ₹300 crore has been earmarked for the construction of an approach road to the Ram temple in Ayodhya while another ₹309.70 crore was allocated for the development of public facilities, construction of parking area and beautification of Ayodhya.
For Varanasi, a sum of ₹177 crore has been earmarked for expansion of an approach road from the banks of the Ganga to Kashi Vishwanath Dham. Another ₹500 crore has been earmarked for the development of a four-lane model road from Rajghat bridge to Ramnagar in Varanasi to ease mobility to the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and Ganga Arti.
The budget also proposed ₹650 crore under the farmers’ accident scheme with a provision of a maximum ₹5 lakh compensation in case of accidental death/disability.
Talking to reporters after the budget presentation, chief minister Adityanath hailed it as an example of “efficient financial management in sync with the aspirations of 250 million people of the state”.
Describing it as inclusive and development oriented, Adityanath said the budget will “pave the way for making the state $1 trillion dollar economy in five years and transform it into the country’s biggest economy.”
“Out of 130 resolutions of the manifesto, 97 have been given taken care of in this first budget itself, and a provision of ₹54,883 crore has been made for this,” Adityanath said. “The government also makes provision for family survey towards the aim of providing job or self-employment to at least one member of each family.”
The government will bring in a supplementary budget in December, the CM announced at a press conference at the Vidhan Bhavan.
“The budget has made provision of over ₹3,300 crore towards fulfilling the promise of two free LPG cylinders for Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries, establish a price stabilisation fund for farmers ensuring MSP (minimum support price) for crops such as potato, tomato and onions. It has a provision for making Bundelkhand shift to natural farming in the next five years. The Nishadraj Boat Subsidy scheme will provide 40% subsidy to boatmen to buy boats,” Adityanath said.
Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said it was not “the budget but a division” and added that the budgetary announcements were a mere “web of statistics”.
“This is this government’s sixth budget. But there is nothing new in it, everything has got reduced,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi. “The common man is missing from this (budget), only government departments are there … actually this is not a budget, but a division.”
Former chief minister and Bhajan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the budget lacked credibility.
“At first glance, it is like ‘old wine in new bottle’. It lacks credibility as far as the promises made by the double engine government for poverty alleviation, unemployment and all removing all round distress are concerned. To usher in ‘acche din’ (good days) in the lives of crores of people of the state, the kind of initiative that should have been taken up on priority were missing,” she tweeted. “Clearly, there is lack of intent. And when that is the case, how can right policies be made when that is the case. For how long will this game of cheating the people continue?”
