On March 15, 2023, the Finance Minister of Uttarakhand Premchand Aggarwal presented a budget with a total income expenditure of Rs 77,407.08 crores for FY24 at Bhararisain, the summer capital of the State located in Chamoli district’s Gairsain tehsil.
- The budget stressed upon startups, conservation of nature, self-reliance, good governance and self-employment.
- The budget for FY24 is 18.02 % higher than the Rs 65,571 crore which was announced in the FY23 Budget Estimates (BE).
Financial Parameters:
i.Total Receipts are estimated at Rs 76592.54 crore
ii.The budget has a revenue surplus of Rs 4,309.55 crore.
iii.Fiscal Deficit is calculated at Rs 9046.91 crore.
Highlights:
i.The largest allocation of Rs 10,459.55 crore is made for education, sports, youth welfare, and culture.
- It is followed by the health department with an allocation of Rs 4,217.87 crore.
ii.A monetary allocation of Rs 1,000 crore is proposed for any rescue operations in Joshimath and other land subsistence-prone areas.
iii.For Atal Ayushman Yojana, an allocation of Rs 400 crore has been made.
- Uttarakhand is the first state in India where every family enjoys the facility of cashless or free treatment under Atal Ayushman Yojana
iv.An allocation of Rs 3,343 crore has been made for civic bodies and Rs 2,850 crore for social welfare, women and child welfare departments.
v.The PWD (Public Works Department) has received a budgetary allocation of Rs 2,791.83 crore.
vi.Rs 101 crore has been made available for metro service in the state capital city Dehradun.
vii.About Rs 40 crores have been allocated for Chief Minister Swarojgar Yojana (Self Employment Scheme) for FY24.
- This scheme provides employment opportunities to the migrant laborers who have returned to Uttarakhand.
- They will be provided loans by the government to start their own industry through nationalized banks, regional rural banks, state cooperative banks and other scheduled banks.
- Loans will be provided on projects up to Rs 25 lakh in manufacturing and up to Rs 10 lakh in the service sector.
viii.An amount of Rs 1,294.15 crore has been allocated for agriculture, out of which Rs 20 crore has been earmarked for the promotion of local produce and Rs 15 crore for the state’s millet mission.
ix.A total allocation of Rs 1,251crore has been made for the electricity department.
- Out of the total amount, Rs 500 crore has been set aside for the Lakhwar power project.
x.For the development of infrastructure in different government departments a provision of Rs 1,300 crore has also been made in the budget.
xi.An amount of Rs 4,217 crore was allocated for medical and family welfare.
xii.Rs 302.04 crore was provisioned for tourism.
Key Note:
On March 14, 2023, the state government also presented its Economic Survey Report which was prepared by the state’s Directorate of Economics and Statistics.
- Accordingly, the state’s per capita income (provisional) in the year FY21 has been estimated at Rs 185,761, while in the year FY22, it is estimated at Rs 205,840.
Recent Related News:
i.On 21st January 2023, HDFC Bank Limited donated Rs 5 crore to Uttarakhand Chief Minister (CM) Pushkar Singh Dhami for the Kedarnath Utthan Charitable Trust.
ii.On 15th February 2023, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Finance Minister of West Bengal, presented the Rs. 3,39,162 crore Budget of West Bengal(WB) for the Financial Year 2023-24. The budget focused on farmers, the tea sector, and the potential of WB as a logistics hub and entrepreneurs.
About Uttarakhand:
Chief Minister– Pushkar Singh Dhami
Governor– Gurmit Singh
Wildlife Sanctuaries– Binsar wildlife sanctuary, Mussoorie wildlife sanctuary
Airports– Jolly Grant Airport, Pant Nagar Airport
