Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath government on Wednesday will table its budget for the financial year 2023-2024. Expected to be of above Rs 7 lakh crore, it will be the biggest budget in the state’s history.
It will be a record that will be in sync with the Yogi government’s claim of Uttar Pradesh emerging as the engine of the nation’s economic growth and proposed target of making the state a trillion-dollar economy by 2027. In 2017, when Yogi Adityanath as chief minister tabled his first budget, its size was Rs 3 lakh 84 thousand crore. In the previous financial year, the budget size was Rs 6.48 lakh crore, including Rs 33,769 crore of supplementary proposals.
The budget that comes in the run-up to the 2024 general elections is also expected to see a pro-people welfarism-driven approach in the state that sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha. UP is set to have a quantum hike in the allocation of funds for employment generation, welfare schemes, and infrastructure development.
The budget will be tabled by state finance minister Suresh Khanna at around 11 am in the assembly. Coming just days after a successful global investors’ summit, the budget is likely to see the reflection of the aspirations and momentum generated by the mega event, which has fetched investment MoUs worth more than Rs 33 lakh crore.
Sources say the budget will focus on several key sectors including fund allocation for boosting industrial growth, especially in the MSME sector. Attractive schemes for investors in the industrial sector are likely on the cards in terms of rebates in land and power allocation. The government eyes the swift conversion of MoUs and plans to have the first groundbreaking ceremony by the year’s end.
The government is also likely to increase fund allocation for laptops and tablet schemes for students. Sources say in the election year, the ambit of beneficiaries under the scheme is expected to be increased. Laptops and tablets for students who had passed classes 10 and 12 were part of the BJP’s sankalp patra (manifesto) ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.
Giving a further push to women’s employment through cottage industries is also on the government’s agenda. The UP chief minister’s brainchild “one district, one product (ODOP)” is likely to get a further boost through the budget.
A big aspect of the budget will also be a focus on enhancing religious tourism. With the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya all set to be opened by January 2024, infrastructure development in the holy town and also places like Varanasi and Mathura is going to see a bigger fund allocation. Sources say the government will also bring a scheme for identifying and developing at least one religious site in each district as a spot for religious tourism. Budgetary provisions for the 2025 Kumbh in Prayagraj are also on the cards.
The medical infrastructure and medical education sector will also be among the finance minister’s priorities. The state has an ambitious target of having one medical college in every district.
Attention will also be on the rural sector and farmer community. Farmers in western UP have been demanding an increase in the purchase price for sugarcane. A scheme for rebates on agricultural equipment can also be announced. Increasing the earnings of farmers is on the agenda of the government, said officials.
Amidst populist schemes and expenditures, the government is, however, not planning to impose any fresh tax. Yogi Adityanath has often said that the state’s economy has been on the path of revival through better financial planning and the overall change that has set in the state’s perception as far as improved law and order and better governance are concerned.
Speaking to the media, state finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna on Tuesday said, “The government has been making sustained efforts to check unneeded expenditure and achieve financial discipline… The government will stand on its commitments and cater to all categories.”
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