Odisha’s Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari presented the state’s highest-ever budget for the Financial year 2023-24 with an outlay of Rs 2.30 lakh crore, increased by 15% from FY23’s budget outlay of Rs 2 lakh core.
- The budget was presented in two parts such as the agriculture budget and the general budget.
- The budget focuses on agriculture, healthcare, and empowerment of the youth and women.
Key Budgetary Allocations:
i.An outlay of Rs 24,829 crore was made for the agriculture budget, which was 20% more than that of FY23. It constitutes about 22.5% of the Gross State Value Added (GSVA).
ii.The capital outlay was increased by more than 60 times from Rs 834 crore in 2000-2001 to Rs 51,683 crore in 2023-24, which is about 6% of the GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product).
iii.The total budget allocation is proposed to be financed through revenue receipts of Rs 1,84,500 crore and borrowing and other receipts of Rs 45,500 crore.
- Revenue Receipts for FY24: These include the state’s share in the central taxes of Rs 46,251 crore, the state’s own tax of Rs 53,000 crore, own non-tax revenue of Rs 52,500 crore and grants from the centre of s 32,749 crore.
iv.As per the FM’s statement, the state’s development expenditure increased by ‘35 times’ from Rs 3,538 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 1,25,000 crore in 2023-24.
v.Rs 94,000 crore was allocated for the administrative expenditure of the state in FY24, which includes Rs 32,449 crore for salaries, Rs 19,967 core for pension, Rs 7,241 crore for interest payment and Rs 13,464 crore for maintenance of capital assets.
vi.Health care:
- Rs 16,048 crore was proposed for public health care, which is an increase of about 27% over FY23.
- Rs 3,003 crore has been allocated for the development of health care infrastructure under the State Scheme Mukhyamantri Swasthya Seva Mission, which includes Rs 1,400 crore for the redevelopment of SCB Medical College and Hospitals.
vii.Education & Development:
Rs.30,030 crore in Education Sector which is about 12.3 percent of the total Budget outlay for 2023-24.
- Rs 22, 528 crore allocated for School and mass education department. While Rs 805 crore has been proposed for Mo School Abhiyan, another Rs 1,000 crore will be spent on the construction of 237 hostels for boys in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas.
- Rs 986 crore for Skill Development & Technical Education.
- Under the Mukhyamantri Medhabi Chatra Protsahan Yojana, an outlay of Rs 811 crore was proposed for the disbursement of the scholarship to more than 23 lakh ST and SC students of which 60% are girls.
- Rs 3,173 crore was the outlay for the Higher education sector, it includes Rs 170 crore for Mo College Abhiyan, Rs 163 crore for infrastructure development of colleges and universities.
- Rs 38,437 crore for SCs and STs development
- An additional amount of Rs 1,000 per child per annum was proposed for providing proper nutrition to nearly six lakhs ST (Scheduled Tribes) and SC (Scheduled Castes) boarders residing in over 5,500 hostels.
viii.New Schemes:
- With a budgetary allotment of Rs 50 crore, FM announced a new scheme Mission Shakti Scooter Yojana for FY24. Rs 2,554 crore for the Department of Mission Shakti.
- Another new scheme named ‘Nutana Unnata Abhilasha Odisha’ was announced under which 1 lakh youths would be trained in future technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality-virtual reality, data science, 3D printing etc.
ix.Other Allocations:
- More than Rs 13,215 crore was proposed for piped drinking water under budget and off-budget sources.
- Rs 12,421 crore has been proposed for loans and advances, grants for the creation of capital assets and other expenditures for capital formation. It is about 1.4% of the GSDP.
- Proposal was made to transfer Rs 3,132 crore based on the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission and around Rs 4,052 crore on the recommendations of the 5th State Finance Commission to the rural and urban local bodies.
Note – The Lok Sabha polls and Odisha Assembly elections are due to be held in 2024.
Recent Related News:
In Janury 2023, Odisha cabinet headed by the state’s Chief minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik has cleared the inclusion of 22 castes/ communities in the state list of Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC).
About Odisha:
Governor – Ganeshi Lal
Festival – Kalinga Mahotsav, Chandan Yatra or Gandhalepana Yatra
Stadium – Kalinga Stadium, Barabati Stadium
