Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jagdish Deora presented the budget for the year 2023-24 on Wednesday. The budget of Rs 3,14,025 crore presented in the election year is 12.5 per cent bigger than the previous year’s budget of Rs 2,79,237 crore and has given preference to populist schemes.
A provision of Rs 1.02 lakh crore has been made in the budget under different schemes for women. A proposal to give one lakh jobs to the unemployed and to give e-scooties to girls who pass class 12 examination in first division has also been kept in the budget.
With the intention of making women self-reliant, the state government has announced to give Rs 1,000 per month to women in the age group of 23 to 60 years under the ‘Mukhyamantri Ladli Bahna Yojana’. A provision of Rs 8,000 crore has been made for this in the budget. On the other hand, a provision of Rs 922 crore has been made in the budget for Ladli Laxmi Yojana. The government will give interest subsidy to women who take loans for self-employment, for which a provision of Rs 100 crore has been made in the budget. A total provision of Rs 1,02,976 crore has been made for gender budgeting.
In the budget of the year 2023-24, it has been said to start the process of one lakh government jobs. Mukhyamantri Kaushal Apprenticeship Yojana will be launched to provide skilled human resources to the industry, for which a provision of Rs 1,000 crore has been made.
For better education, the state government will start 9,200 CM-Rise schools in the coming years. For this, a provision of Rs 3,230 crore has been made in the budget. An allocation of Rs 25 crore has been made for the Mukhyamantri Balika Scooty Yojana. A total provision of Rs 38,375 crore has been made in the education sector, which is 17 per cent more than the previous budget.
Similarly, a provision of Rs 30,741 crore has been made for health, whereas in the infrastructure sector, there is a budget proposal of Rs 56, 256 crore, which is the highest ever.
Road and bridge development work will be done in the state this year by spending Rs 28,624 crore. 7,000 km of new roads will be built in the coming years.
Agriculture is considered the backbone of the state’s economy. To help small farmers, the government has allocated Rs 350 crore to pay the interest of farmers who have defaulted on loans from cooperative banks. An amount of Rs 1,500 crore will also be infused in cooperative banks. Madhya Pradesh is the only state that allows its farmers to sell their produce from home through the Farm Gate app. In 2022, 12022 farmers sold 50 lakh quintals of produce through this. A provision of Rs 53,964 crore was made in the budget for agriculture and allied sectors.
A provision of Rs 26,087 and Rs 36,950 crore has been made in the budget for the sub-schemes for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively.
Economic affairs expert Jai Nagpal says, ‘Even though the Ladli Bahna Yojana has been started keeping the elections in mind, it will play an important role in the empowerment of women. The things said about youth and renewable energy also indicate that the budget is future-oriented.
Economist Devendra Vishwakarma says, ‘The youth have been worried in the budget. 52 percent youth of the state are in the age group of 18 to 39, their concern is clearly visible in this budget.
