UP govt bats on populist schemes in new budget ahead of key polls

The Uttar Pradesh government Thursday presented a Rs 4.79 lakh crore budget for 2019-20 and announced populist schemes ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The annual budget presented by finance minister Rajesh Agarwal in state Assembly is 12 per cent higher than the 2018-19 budget of Rs 4,28,384.52 crore. The budget includes new schemes totalling Rs 21,212.95 crore.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was present in the Assembly when the finance minister read out the budget speech punctuated with Urdu couplets. This is the third budget of the Adityanath government.

Agarwal announced a number of new populist schemes, including 'Kanya Sumangala Yojana' to raise health and educational standard of girls, brighten their future and bring in a positive change in the thinking towards women. An amount of Rs 1,200 crore has been proposed for the Yojana.

For conservation of bovine cattle, the government has allotted Rs 247.60 crore towards maintenance and construction of 'gaushalas' in rural areas. As per the budget estimate for 2019-20, the total receipts would be Rs 4,70,684.48 crore. The amount includes Rs 3,91,734.40 crore of revenue receipts and Rs 78,950.08 crore of capital receipts.

The tax revenue is pegged at Rs 2,93,039.17 crore, including Rs 1,40,176 crore of the state's own tax revenue and Rs 1,52,863.17 crore of the state's share in the central taxes. The total state expenditure is estimated at Rs 4,79,701.10 crore. It includes Rs 3,63,957.04 crore of revenue expenditure and Rs 1,15,744.06 crore of capital expenditure.

A revenue saving of Rs 27,777.36 crore is estimated in the year 2019-20. The state's fiscal deficit has been pegged at Rs 46,910.62 crore in 2019-20. The state's debt liability is estimated at 29.98 per cent of the state's GDP. After deducting total expenditure from the receipts of the consolidated fund, a deficit of Rs 9,016.62 crore has been projected for next fiscal.

Net receipts of Rs 9,500 crore is expected from the public account. The closing balance for 2019-20 has estimated at Rs 8,708.85 crore in which opening balance of Rs 8,225.47 crore has been taken into account.

(With inputs from agencies.)