New Delhi: The Lok Sabha approved the Rs 48.21-lakh crore Budget for 2024-25 of the Union Government.
The lower House also approved the budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a voice vote.
The Union Budget and Budget for J&K was passed by a voice vote by the Lok Sabha. The relevant appropriation bills were also passed by the House.
Replying to the debate, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the fiscal deficit of the central government is proposed to be brought down to 4.9 percent of the GDP during 2024-25 and further to below 4.5 percent by 2025-26.
The Finance Minister also 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, 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.
“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?” Sitharaman said.
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.
Sitharaman said India is the fastest-growing economy globally and has overcome the after-effects of the pandemic due to 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 percent by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9 percent for the current fiscal. The deficit was 5.6 per cent in 2023-24.
The Budget has provided substantial financial support of Rs 17,000 crore to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir this year. It includes Rs 12,000 crore towards financing the cost of J&K police.
“That’s the burden we want to take on our shoulders,” Sitharaman said. (Combines three different PTI stories)
