Emphasis on farmers, youth, infra development in UP budget

Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the budget for the financial year 2024-25 in the state assembly on Monday. In the budget, maximum focus has been given to women, youth, farmers and employment generation. This is the biggest budget of the state so far.

The state budget size for FY 2024-25 is Rs 7,36,437 crore, which includes new schemes worth Rs 24,863.57 crore.

Khanna said that the amount payable to eligible beneficiaries under the Destitute Women Pension Scheme has been increased from Rs 500 per month to Rs 1,000 per month.

The Finance Minister said that under the Women Farmers Empowerment Project, the target is to form 200 producer groups and provide technical assistance in the financial year 2024-2025.

The budget for the financial year 2024-25 includes total revenue receipts of Rs 6,06,802.40 crore and capital receipts of Rs 1,14,531.42 crore.

The fiscal deficit in the budget is estimated at Rs 86,530.51 crore, which is 3.46 percent of the estimated gross state domestic product for the year.

The Uttar Pradesh government has set a target of 5.1 percent growth rate for the agriculture sector in the state in the annual budget for the financial year 2024-25.

The Finance Minister announced three schemes for the progress of the agriculture sector. There is a provision of Rs 200 crore for 'State Agricultural Development Scheme'. Rs 200 crore has also been allocated for the second World Bank supported 'UP Agris Scheme'.

The third scheme is related to setting up automatic weather stations and automatic rain measuring instruments in the development blocks and gram panchayats of the state, for which Rs 60 crore has been allocated.

The minister said that Mukhyamantri Khet Suraksha Yojana is also being started with a provision of Rs 50 crore. Apart from this, an outlay of Rs 2,400 crore has been proposed to provide electricity at concessional rates to the private tube wells of farmers. This amount is 25 percent more than the budget provided in the current financial year.

He said that 'P.M. An amount of Rs 449.45 crore is proposed for the implementation of 'Kusum Yojana', which is twice as compared to the current financial year 2023-24. (with language input)

He said that after the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, the city has now become a center of global tourism. He said that there has been unprecedented improvement in law and order in the state.