TS Budget focuses on welfare
Pegged at Rs 2.90 lakh crore, the outlay has been increased by about 13% from last year’s Rs 2.56 lakh crore
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Telangana budget 2023-24 Highlights
• Rs. 26,831 cr for agriculture and allied departments
• Rs. 6,385 cr allocated for farmers' debt waiver
• Rs. 15,075 cr for Rythu Bandhu scheme
• Rs. 1,589 cr marked for insurance to farmers
• Rs. 26,885 cr proposed for the irrigation sector
• Rs.12,000 cr is enhanced allocation for power subsidy
Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Monday presented a budget of Rs 2,90,396 crore for 2023-24, up from about Rs 2.57 lakh crore last year with welfare programmes getting a lion's share of allocation. Finance Minister T Harish Rao, who presented the budget in the Legislative Assembly, allotted Rs 2,11,685 crore towards Revenue Expenditure and Rs 37,525 crore for Capital Expenditure.
This budget was the last one tabled by the BRS government in its present (second) term. The State government's flagship Dalit welfare scheme 'Dalit Bandhu', a brainchild of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was allocated Rs 17,700 crore. The scheme provides financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh per beneficiary to take up any business of their choice.
The budget proposed an amount of Rs 36,750 crore as Special Development Fund for Scheduled Castes, while the Medical and Health department got Rs 12,161 crore. An amount of Rs 12,000 crore has been proposed towards 'Aasara' social security pensions, while Rs 15,233 crore was proposed in the budget as Special Development Fund for Scheduled Tribes.
The budget proposed Rs 6,229 crore for the welfare of backward classes. The allocation for the Panchayat Raj department in the budget was Rs 31,426 crore, while it was Rs 26,885 crore for the irrigation sector. The amounts proposed in the budget for the Agriculture and Education departments were Rs 26,831 crore and Rs 19,093 crore respectively.
Providing statistics, Harish Rao said Telangana's share in the country's GDP grew to 4.9 per cent in 2020-21 from 4.1 per cent in 2014-15. The per capita income of Telangana is estimated to increase from Rs 1,12,162 in 2013-14 to Rs 3,17,115 in 2022-23, he said.
