Union Budget: Regarding Kerala, it's disregard once again

T'puram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed huge disappointment over the treatment meted out to Kerala in the Union Budget presented on Saturday. The Budget's approach, which completely disregards Kerala's key demands, is highly condemnable, he said.
"While ₹25 lakh crore has been earmarked for states, Kerala is set to receive not even ₹40,000 crore. Kerala is being punished for its progress, including in the education sector.If progress was achieved, there is no allocation. If a sector still requires progress, there are no allocations for that either. Even Kerala's requests regarding borrowing limits were rejected. There is no increase in the minimum support price for agricultural produce. Rubber, paddy, and coconut farming were ignored. Proposals submitted for these sectors were not approved. There is no regulation on rubber imports," Vijayan said.
The Union Budget has become a political document that disregards Kerala's expectations. This is extremely disappointing and unfortunate. A budget should be an economic statement, but this one is shaped by electoral calculations, focusing only on regions where elections are due. This undermines the very concept of balanced development. OBCs, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the agricultural and farm labour sectors have not been granted their rightful share. Not only did the Budget fail to provide adequate support for agriculture and industry but various agricultural subsidies were also cut. The MGNREGA scheme has been a relief for economically weaker sections yet even its rightful allocation was not ensured in the budget, Vijayan said.
A special package was requested for the rehabilitation of Wayanad, which faced an unprecedented disaster. However, the Budget allocated nothing for Wayanad. Kerala sought a special package of ₹24,000 crore. A request was made for due consideration of Vizhinjam, recognising its national significance. Not only were these demands ignored but there are no major projects for the state either. Long-standing demands such as AIIMS and a railway coach factory were once again rejected, he said.
Meanwhile, state finance minister K N Balagopal said there was no significant change in the Budget's core nature compared to previous years. "Once again, the focus is on politically significant regions while states like Kerala are sidelined," Balagopal said. He said Kerala had reasonable expectations from this Budget, but there was no mention of crucial financial concerns raised by the state.
The minister criticised the Budget for failing to address several critical projects related to Kerala. "There was no mention of the Mundakkai-Chooralmala package or the Vizhinjam project, which is deeply disappointing," he stated. Balagopal highlighted that last year, Kerala was supposed to receive Rs 73,000 crore from Centre but was granted only Rs 33,000 crore, pointing out the stark disparity in fund allocation among states.