Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 30 termed misleading claims by Opposition leaders that if any State is not named in the Budget speech, then it does not get any budgetary allocation.
Replying to a Budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, Ms. Sitharaman asserted that no State was being denied money. She recalled that in the past Budgets by the UPA government also did not mention names of all states in their Budget speech.
Ms. Sitharaman asked, “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?”
She was responding to comments by several Opposition members that the Budget has provided funds only to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and nothing to other States.
Ms. Sitharaman said India is the fastest-growing economy globally and has overcome the after-effects of the pandemic due to a heavy capex push.
She also said the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory. It will bring down the deficit to below 4.5% by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9% for the current fiscal. The deficit was 5.6% in 2023-24.
The Budget has provided substantial financial support of ₹17,000 crore to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir this year. It includes ₹12,000 crore towards financing the cost of J&K police. "That's the burden we want to take on our shoulders," Ms. Sitharaman said.
The Lok Sabha approved the ₹48.21-lakh crore Budget for FY2024-25 of the Union Government. The lower House also approved the budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a voice vote.
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