In a first, an entirely paperless budget was presented in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Monday—the last budget of the current government, with a size of Rs. 5,50,270 crore.
Though it was paperless, Finance Minister Suresh Khanna ensured that his tablet containing the budget was placed in the prayer room at his home before he set out to present it.
While new schemes worth Rs. 27,598 crore have been announced, the government has spent the rest of the money to strengthen many of its existing projects.
Prominent among the new schemes is the ‘Mukhyamantri Pravasi Shramik Udyamita Vikas Yojana’ which gets Rs. 100 crore to provide employment and self-employment to migrant workers coming from other states.
The state’s unsatisfactory medical education situation is to be tackled by 13 new medical colleges for which Rs. 1,950 crore has been set aside. In addition to this, Amethi and Balrampur received Rs. 175 crore for the establishment of new medical colleges.
Provisions for Ayodhya include Rs. 101 crore for the Maryada Purushottam Shriram Airport, Rs. 140 crore for the overall development of Suryakund and the city in general, and Rs 300 crore for the construction of an approach road to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple. Rs. 100 crore has been set aside for the development and beautification of tourism facilities in the city.
Areas that get special packages include Purvanchal which will receive Rs. 300 crore while Bundelkhand is to get Rs. 210 crore.
Model career centres in 12 districts have been set aside for the young, while all eligible students under the recently launched Mukhya Mantri Abhyudaya Yojana (a coaching scheme for competitive exams) will get tablets.
Sports gets special emphasis with Rs 8.55 crore allocated for Youth Sports Development and Promotion Scheme. For the construction of rural stadia and open gyms, a provision of Rs. 25 crore has been made while Rs. 20 crore has gone to the construction of a new sports university at Meerut. Rs. 20 crore has been allocated for the for construction of chambers for advocates in all districts. A provision of Rs. 10 crore has been made for facilitation of purchase of books and magazine by young advocates.
The budget makes a provision of Rs. 700 crore for free water facility to farmers—a populist measure that experts have held is responsible for rapidly depleting groundwater. The other crucial element to maintaining the hydrological cycle, forest cover, which currently just hovers around six per cent, is proposed to be increased to 15 per cent by 2030—a figure much below what is deemed sufficient. Rs. 600 crore has been proposed for the chief minister’s farmer accident insurance policy. A much smaller amount, Rs. 12 crore, goes to peddlers, laboureres and workers of the unorganised sector.
The government’s biggest expressway project, the Ganga Expressway, has received Rs. 7,200 crore for land acquisition and Rs. 489 for construction.
A provision of Rs. 50 crore has been made for the COVID-19 vaccination scheme. Health infrastructure is to be bolstered through Rs. 1,073 crore, meant for creating diagnostic infrastructure for primary health care facilities while urban health and Arogya centres get Rs 425 crore.
An allocation of Rs. 12,441 crore has been made for the construction of roads and bridges.
The state’s flagship 'One District, One Product Scheme' gets a boost of Rs. 250 crore while Rs. 10 crore has been set aside to promote traditional artists and artisans.
Money allocated for women-centric initiatives include Rs. 32 crore for Mahila Shakti Kendras, interest-free loans up to Rs. 10 lakh for gram udyog (home based enterprises) and Rs. 200 crore for the new Mahila Samarthya Yojana.
There are no separate provisions made for minorities.
The minister also touched upon the government’s work during the pandemic, ranging from the Rs 29.58 crore mandays of work that were created under MGNREGA to 40 lakh migrants who were sent to their homes through roadways buses.
