The Telangana Budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 was unveiled at the Assembly by Finance Minister T Harish Rao today.
After the Telangana Cabinet met at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's camp office, Pragathi Bhavan, yesterday to approve the state Budget for 2021-22, Finance Minister T Harish Rao today made his presentation of the same at 11:30 am at the Telangana Assembly.
This year's budgetary allocations have generated a lot of interest as the CM's office had recently revealed that though the state had faced losses of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy had been able to revive itself reasonably well. The CM had even promised several increases in allocations as compared to last year.
The ruling party seems to have made good on its promise.
The Finance Minister began his presentation by saying that Telangana's GSDP had grown by 1.3% against a national average of 13.5%. He then announced that the state budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year proposed expenditures of Rs 2,30,825.96 crore.
Here are the highlights of the Budget -
1) MLAs will receive Rs 5 crore each to develop their constituencies. A total of Rs 800 crore was allocated for this.
2) In the agricultural sector, a whopping Rs 25,000 crore was sanctioned to the agriculture department, Rs 5,225 crore was allocated towards farm loan waivers, Rs 14,800 crore towards the Rythu Bandhu farmer support scheme, Rs 1,200 crore towards the Rythu Bhima scheme, Rs 1,500 crore towards the farm mechanisation scheme, Rs 1,730 crore for the animal husbandry department, and Rs 16,931 crore for irrigation improvements.
3) For rural development, the government set aside Rs 29,271 crore for the Panchayat raj and rural development department. Further, Rs 400 crore was allocated to comprehensive land surveys, while Rs 2,750 crore was pumped into the Kalyan Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes.
4) A host of funds were also set aside for the development of the SC, the ST and the OBC communities. While Rs 21,306.85 crore was poured into the SC special development fund, the ST development fund received Rs 12,304.23 crore. Rs 18 crore was also set aside for electricity subsidies for ST households, and Rs 500 crore was given to the Kalyan Lakshmi scheme for OBCs. Apart from this, the BC welfare department received Rs 5,522 crore, while the minorities welfare department got Rs 1,606 crore. A new scheme, the CM Dalit Empowerment Program, was also introduced today, and Rs 1,000 crore was set aside for the same.
5) Under worker welfare-related schemes, Rs 338 crore was allocated towards the welfare of handloom workers.
6) To bolster women and child welfare in the state, Rs 1,702 crore was allocated to the women and child development department. Also, Rs 3,000 crore was allocated for interest-free loans for women.
7) Rs 11,000 crore was allocated to the TRS government's much-hyped 2BHK housing scheme for the poor.
8) Several key developmental projects also received generous funds - Rs 200 crore was sanctioned for the rejuvenation of the Musi river, Rs 1,000 crore for the Hyderabad Metro Rail project, Rs 250 crore for the provision of drinking water in the new residential colonies on Outer Ring Road, and Rs 1,100 crore for the repair of roads across the state.
9) Other significant urban development allocations include - Rs 15,030 crore for the municipal administration and urban development department, Rs 6,295 crore for the health and family welafare department, Rs 250 crore for the Warangal Municipal Corporation, and Rs 150 crore for the Khammam Municipal Corporation.
10) In the education sector, Rs 4,000 crore was set aside for the state's new education scheme under which the TRS regime will work to strengthen the government schools in the state. Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated to the repair and improvement of facilities in the schools.
11) The power sector received Rs 11,046 crore.
12) The government proposed to pour in Rs 360 crore into the state's booming IT sector, and Rs 100 crore into its civil aviation sector.
13) Rs 1,276 crore was allocated to the forest department, Rs 8,788 crore to the roads and building department, and Rs 720 crore for temple development and the welfare of temple staff and archakas.
14) Rs 2,363 crore was given to the civil supplies department, and Rs 726 crore to the tourism and culture sector.
15) For the construction of the controversial new Secretariat, the government set aside Rs 610 crore.
Concluding his nearly two-hour-long Budget speech, Harish Rao adjourned the house till March 20. The one-day break has been given so that the members of the Assembly have the time to go through the sector-wise allocations in time for further deliberations on the same.