Andhra Pradesh finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy on Thursday presented the state’s annual budget for the year 2021-22 with an outlay of ₹2,29,779 crore and a focus on welfare, health, agriculture and education.
“Andhra Pradesh currently ranks 3rd at the national level across 17 strategic development goals. It shall be our endeavour to be at the forefront of the achievement of the SDGs at the national level. To invest in the future of our citizens and empower them to realise their true potential shall continue to be the constant endeavour of our government,” the finance minister said.
The finance minister estimated a revenue expenditure of ₹1,82,196.54 crore and capital expenditure including loan repayments and other capital disbursements estimated at around ₹47,582.73 crore.
The revenue deficit was projected at around ₹5,000.05 crore which would be around 0.47 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and the fiscal deficit at around ₹37,029.79 crore, which will be around 3.49% of the GSDP.
The presentation of the budget, which is generally done in March, was delayed by two months, as the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy deferred the budget session on account of elections to urban local bodies and by-elections to Tirupati parliamentary constituency.
Since the passage of the budget and the appropriation bill would be delayed, the state government had to go in for the ordinance route on March 31 to adopt the vote-on-account budget for ₹70,994.98 crore for the first three months of the financial year 2021-22, beginning on April 1.
Stating that building effective social infrastructure is imperative for registering consistent progress in strategic development goals, Reddy said “Nava Ratnalu” (nine jewels) programme taken up by the chief minister was devised to prioritise the welfare of all sections of people, particularly the SCs, STs, BCs, EBCs and minorities.
He said an amount of ₹28,237 crore had been allocated for the weaker sections in the current budget, while the economically backward sections were allocated ₹5,478 crore, which is an increase of eight per cent over the previous year. Kapus were allocated ₹3,306 crore, Brahmins ₹359 crore, SC sub-plan ₹17,403 crore, ST sub-plan ₹6,131 crore, minorities ₹3,840 crore, child welfare ₹16,748 crore and women development ₹47,283 crore.
The finance minister also made a substantial allocation of ₹13,830 crore for the health sector, including ₹2,258 crore under Dr YSR Aarogyasri scheme to provide cashless treatment to poor and needy patients free of cost in government and private network hospitals and ₹1,538.55 crore under Nadu-Nedu scheme to improve the health infrastructure.
The agriculture sector was allocated ₹11,210 crore and education got a maximum of ₹24,624 crore. An amount of ₹5,661 crore was allocated for housing and infrastructure development and ₹1,000 crore for industrial incentives.
Reddy also announced the enhancement of funds for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme in various sectors. Some of the major allocations made under the DBT schemes are: ₹17,000 crore to YSE Pension Kanuka, ₹3,845 crore to YSR Rythu Bharosa, ₹2,500 crore to Jagananna Vidya Deevena, ₹1,802 crore to YSR Fasal Bima Yojana, ₹1112 crore to zero interest loans for DWCRA groups and ₹500 crore to farmers, among others.
While industrial and infrastructure development was allocated ₹3,673 crore, roads and buildings got ₹7,394 crore, energy sector ₹6,637 crore, municipalities and urban development ₹8,727 crore and irrigation ₹13,237 crore.
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