Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the maiden budget of Yogi Adityanath’s second term government in the state assembly on Thursday (May 26) saying “The economy of the state is improving rapidly. We believe that we will be successful in taking the state’s economy to USD 1 trillion.” Tabling the state budget of Rs 6,15,518.97 crore for the financial year 2022-23, Khanna said that it has a provision of Rs 39,181.10 crore for the new schemes, adding that Rs 276.66 crore is proposed for Uttar Pradesh special security force entrusted with the task of security of courts and historical and religious places, including Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura.
Seated next to the chief minister, Khanna said that under the Police Emergency Management System, the second phase of the 112 scheme will start this fiscal and for this, a provision of Rs 730.88 crore is proposed for its strengthening.
For women, the budget has proposed setting up cyber help desks at the district level and a provision of Rs 72.50 crore has been made for the women empowerment scheme. A provision of Rs 20 crore has also been proposed for the safety and empowerment of women and skill development under the Mission Shakti programme in the micro and small scale industries sector, PTI report quoted Khanna as saying.
For farmers, the state budget proposed Rs 650 crore under the farmers’ accident scheme. There is a provision to provide a maximum of Rs 5 lakh in case of accidental death/disability under the scheme.
Khanna said 15,000 solar pumps will be installed in the financial year 2022-23 and 60.20 lakh quintal seeds are proposed to be distributed to farmers. The budget has also set a target to distribute 119.30 lakh metric tonne of fertilisers, he said, adding that a provision of Rs 1,000 crore is proposed for the Chief Minister’s Minor Irrigation Scheme.
For youth, Khanna said the free tablet and smartphones scheme was started in December last year and till now approximately 12 lakh tablets/smartphones were distributed to them, adding that as per the party’s ‘Lok Kalyan Sankalp’ Patra, in the next five years, 2 crore smartphones/tablets are to be distributed to the youth.
For Swami Vivekanand Youth Empowerment Scheme, Rs 1,500 crore has been proposed in the budget. He further said that under the new UP Startup Policy-2020, a target is to establish a total of 100 incubators and 10,000 startups in the next five years.
With the objective of providing coaching facilities to competitive students near their homes, the Chief Minister Abhyudaya Yojana has been implemented by the state government in all the divisional headquarters. The scheme is being expanded to all the districts of the state, a provision of Rs 30 crore is proposed for the scheme, the minister said.
A provision of Rs 10 crore is proposed to provide financial assistance to young lawyers for purchasing books and magazines for the first three years of work. A provision of Rs.95 crore is also proposed for land purchase for the establishment of International Cricket Stadium in Varanasi district, he said.
Khanna said that the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut district was laid by the Prime Minister on January 02, 2022, on which an amount of Rs 700 crore would be spent for the development of sports and to prepare players of excellent quality and a provision of Rs 50 crore is proposed for the establishment of the university.
For the employment generation, Khanna said, under the MNREGA scheme, 26 crore man-days were created in the financial year 2021-22, and a target has been set to generate 32 crore man-days under the scheme in the financial year 2022-23, adding that a target is to provide employment to 16,000 people by establishing 800 units under the Chief Minister’s Village Industries Employment Scheme, in the year 2022-23.
In secondary education, the minister said that 40,402 teachers have been selected and 7,540 posts have been created by ending the interview in teacher selection.
There is a huge potential for employment generation in the field of medical education. About 3,000 nurses have been appointed in government medical colleges/hospitals and about 10,000 posts have been created, which will be filled in the coming years, he added.
UP Budget eyes 2024 general elections
The state budget is almost double the size of the Rs 3,46,935 crore budget presented by the Akhilesh Yadav government for the financial year 2016-17. With an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the state Finance Minister said that the government has not only made a record payment of Rs 1,72,745 crore to sugarcane farmers until May 16, 2022.
The amount is Rs 77,530 crore more than the five years of accumulated payment of Rs 95,215 crore during Akhilesh Yadav`s government, along with proposing Rs 1000 crore for payment to the remaining sugarcane farmers.
The budget proposes free irrigation facilities to farmers through 34,307 government tube-wells and 252 minor branch canals as well as Rs 1000 crore under Mukhya Mantri Laghu Sinchai Yojana to address irrigation related issues in the state.
It has also proposed Rs 897 crore for multi-modal connectivity projects under PM Gati Shakti Yojana and Rs 694. 34 crore for the 594 km long six-lane Ganga Expressway from Meerut to Prayagraj.
The total receipts in the current financial year are estimated at Rs 5,90,951.71 crore, including revenue receipts of Rs 4,99,212.71 crore and capital receipts of Rs 91,739 crore.
The share of tax revenue in revenue receipts is Rs 3,67,153.76 crore. This includes its own tax revenue of Rs 2,20,655 crore and the state`s share in central taxes of Rs 1,46,498.76 crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 81,177.97 crore which is 3.96 per cent of the estimated Gross State Domestic Product.
(With Inputs from Agencies)
