On 22nd February 2023, Suresh Kumar Khanna, Finance Minister of Uttar Pradesh(UP) presented Rs 6.90 lakh crore budget for the year 2023-24 in the UP assembly focusing on agriculture, education and populist schemes.
- The budget of Rs 6,90,242.43 crore for FY24 was the biggest budget in the history of UP.
- The FY24 budget focuses on the all-around development of UP for making it a USD 1 trillion economy.
Note:
- The meeting of the UP cabinet was presided over by Chief Minister(CM) Yogi Adityanath.
- In 2022 the UP government presented an annual budget of Rs 6.15 lakh crore for FY23 and a supplementary budget of Rs 33,769.55 crore in December 2022. The total budget was around Rs 6.50 lakh crore.
Highlights:
Infrastructure:
i.A provision of over Rs 21,159 crore was proposed for the construction of roads and bridges, and Rs 6,209 crore for their maintenance. Rs 3,473 crore is proposed for the work of bridges and roads for agricultural marketing facilities and Rs 1,525 crore for roads in rural areas.
ii.Rs 1,700 crore is proposed for the construction of railway overhead bridges and Rs 1,850 crore for other bridges, the budget proposed Rs 2,588 crore for widening/ strengthening and new works of state highways.
iii.A provision of Rs 100 crore has been made for the metro projects in Varanasi, Gorakhpur and other cities.
iv.Rs 1,000 crore has been proposed for the development of ‘Dharmarth Marg’ (roads to religious places) to promote religious tourism.
Rs 3,000 crore for maintenance of roads and Rs 2,500 crore for construction from the State Road Fund.
v.The government has proposed an outlay of Rs 200 crore for the Gorakhpur Industrial Corridor which is set to be established near the Gorakhpur Link Expressway and Rs 1,306 crore has been allocated for the Delhi-Ghaziabad Meerut Corridor Regional Rapid Transit System project.
vi.The government has allocated Rs 235 crore for the construction of two new expressways – Jhansi Link Expressway and Chitrakoot Link Expressway. Another Rs 550 crore has been proposed for the Defence Corridor project and Bundelkhand expressway.
Students:
Rs 3,600 crore has been allotted for the provision of tablets and smartphones to eligible students under the Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme.
Women:
i.The budget for 2023-24 has allocated Rs 1,050 crore under Chief Minister Kanya Sumangala Yojana, which offers financial assistance to the guardians or parents of 2 girl children in one family and Rs 4,032 crore has been allocated to support destitute widows.
ii.Rs 600 crore has been allocated for Samuhik Vivah scheme for the marriage of all girls of all classes and Rs 150 crore is allocated for the marriage grant scheme for daughters of poor people belonging to other backward classes.
Health & Pensions:
i.Rs 7,248 crore was proposed for the old age or farmer pension scheme and Rs 1,120 crore was set aside for Divyang Pension Yojana.
ii.Rs 12,631 crore has been proposed for various programmes under the National Rural Health Mission and Rs 400 crore for implementing Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
Others:
i.The budget also includes a provision of Rs 20 crore for the State Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development and Rs 401 crore is allocated for the implementation of the UP Electronics Manufacturing Policy.
ii.Rs 85.89 crore for the state Data Center and Rs 60 crore for Information Technology and Startups Policy.
iii.The UP government has made a provision of Rs 317 crore for implementing the UP Solar Energy Policy-2022.
Key Points:
i.CM Yogi Adityanath noted that the 50% subsidy in electricity for irrigation for the farmers will be increased to 100% in a systematic way in the future.
ii.The UP government is set to provide 1 free cylinder to beneficiaries of the Ujjawala scheme.
iii.Rs 20 crore was allocated to the Agriculture Accelerator Fund to encourage agritech startups in rural areas.
iv.With an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore, the government aims to create around 20000 jobs in the next 5 years under UP Tourism Policy 2022.
v.He also stated that Ayodhya will be developed as a model solar city and an international sports complex will also be established in Ayodhya.
vi.The government also assured that the ongoing road widening project in Ayodhya will be completed in the next 2 years.
vii.He also stated that the number of active airports in UP is set to become 21.
Recent Related News:
Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister (CM) of Uttar Pradesh (UP), inaugurated North India’s first hyper-scale data centre, ‘Yotta D1,’ of Yotta Infrastructure Solutions, a new-age digital transformation service provider, at the upcoming Yotta Data Centre Park in Greater Noida, UP.
About Uttar Pradesh(UP):
Chief Minister– Yogi Adityanath
Governor– Anandiben Patel
Airport– Bareilly Airport, Aligarh Airport
UNESCO Heritage Sites– Agra Fort, Taj Mahal
