The Budget 2022-23 tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 did not have any special announcements or schemes for five states going to the assembly polls in less than two weeks.
This was in contrast to last year’s budget in which the finance minister made substantial allocations for four states going to polls soon after she tabled the budget in the Parliament.
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In her 90-minute speech, the finance minister on February 1 said the government was aware of the concerns of the youth, women, farmers, the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes but didn’t specifically allocate funds for any of the five poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa.
"This Budget continues to provide impetus for growth. It lays a parallel track of a blueprint for the Amrit Kaal, which is futuristic and inclusive. This will directly benefit our youth, women, farmers, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes,” Sitharaman said.
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The voting for the five states, including the country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7 . The counting of votes in all the five states will be done on March 10.
Together these states account for 145 members of Parliament—102 of the Lok Sabha and 43 the Rajya Sabha. Coming days ahead of the polling, the Budget was expected to carry some populist big-ticket announcements, especially benefiting farmers in Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh, which were at the forefront of the agitation against the three farm laws eventually scrapped in November.
The Budget instead had general announcements about use of ‘kisan drones’ for digitisation of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients.
"The procurement of wheat in Rabi 2021-22 and the estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif 2021-22 will cover 1208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers, and Rs 2.37 lakh crore direct payment of MSP value to their accounts," Sitharaman said.
- Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) 1 Feb 2022
Among the states going to the polls, Uttar Pradesh is a heavyweight, as the adage goes that road to Delhi goes through Uttar Pradesh, which alone has 80 Lok Sabha seats– the highest for a state in the country.
The ruling BJP faces a keen challenge from Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) in the state. The BJP had swept the last election, with firebrand leader Yogi Adityanath taking over as the chief minister.
The Finance Minister, however, did announce the implementation of the Ken-Betwa river linking project at a cost of Rs 44, 605 crore.
The project in the drought-prone region of Bundelkhand, spread across 13 districts in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, is expected to benefit more than 9 lakh hectare farmland. A budget of Rs 1,400 crores has been allocated for the project in 2022-23
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the FM and said the welfare of the poor was an important aspect of the Union Budget.
"This Budget is full of new possibilities for more infrastructure, more investment, more growth, and more jobs," Modi said in televised address after the FM tabled the Budget.
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