New Delhi: Hitting back at the Opposition for alleging that the NDA government has not earmarked funds for non-ruling BJP states, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that the NDA government allies like JD (U) in Bihar and TDP in Andhra Pradesh were not favoured in the Budget. “In a budget speech if a state is not named, it doesn’t mean no money will go to them and it was a misleading campaign,” Sitharaman said, while replying to the discussion on Budget in Lok Sabha for fiscal year 2024-25.
“No state was being denied money in the budget. We are not depriving any state. I have been picking up on Budget speeches since 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and so on… The Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 states. I would like to ask the members of the UPA government at that time – did money not go to those 17 states? Did they stop it?” Sitharaman asked, while responding to comments by several opposition members in the House.
In line with the Prime Minister’s vision, Sitharaman also expressed confidence in the Indian economy, saying that India is the fastest-growing economy globally and has overcome the after-effects of the pandemic due to heavy capex push. “We shall all work to build Viksit Bharat by the year 2047, the budget 2024-25 is the first step towards Viksit Bharat,” she said.
Slamming the Opposition on the total allocation and capital expenditure in the budget, Sitharaman said that capital expenditure is what has helped us come out of Covid. “Spending on capital expenditure through public money has yielded results. Post Covid, we have consistently maintained a high growth rate and we are the fastest growing in the world,” the finance minister said.
“In the total expenditure of Rs 48.21 lakh crore, Rs 11.11 lakh crore will go on capital expenditure. Budgeted capital expenditure is now almost 3.3 times the capital expenditure, which was there in 2019-2020 prior to Covid. The effective capital expenditure is Rs 15.02 lakh crore or above 18 per cent over 2023-24,” the finance minister said.
“The expenditure in each sector, contrary to what was argued, has gone up. For instance, agriculture had Rs 0.30 lakh crore in 2013-14 whereas now it has 1.52 lakh crore. It is Rs 8,000 crore more than last year. For education and employment, 0.85 lakh crore was allotted in 2013-14 whereas today it is 1.48 lakh crore, 23 per cent more allocation,” she added.
On fiscal balance, the finance minister also said that the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory. “It will bring down the deficit to below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9 per cent for the current fiscal. The deficit was 5.6 per cent in 2023-24,” she said.
“States not being mentioned in the Budget is not such a big issue. They know, they have been presenting the budget for decades. But when it is an ordinary chaiwala, OBC leader who becomes prime minister and handles administration well, you then have a problem. If he is doing well, we’ll have to protest,” Sitharaman said.
The finance minister also said that rumours are being spread that Indian institutions cannot guarantee security to foreign investments (due to) strategic, economic and political instability. “Some forces are working to create this image and we should all fight it together. There’s a huge nexus behind this, which is carrying out this conspiracy from the states and even to the Parliament,” she said.
Sitharaman also spoke about financial support given to Jammu and Kashmir this year. “We have provided substantial financial support of Rs 17,000 crore in the Union Budget of UT Jammu and Kashmir this year. It includes Rs 12,000 crore towards financing the cost of Jammu and Kashmir Police. That’s the burden we want to take on our shoulders, so that Jammu and Kashmir has more flexibility to spend money on development activities,” said Sitharaman.
After Sitharaman’s reply on the Budget, the Lok Sabha approved the Rs 48.21-lakh crore Budget for 2024-25 of the Union government. The lower House also approved the budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a voice vote and the relevant appropriation bills were also passed by the House. It is also expected that the finance minister will also reply to the debate on the budget in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.�
