Jumbo budget aims at welfare schemes to strike \'hat-trick win\'

Hyderabad: The last Budget of the Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS government is expected to pump more money into social welfare schemes, one of the main focus areas on which the party would contest the Assembly elections in 2023, with a special emphasis on Dalits, farmers, and pensioners.

Official sources said the government's Budget (2023-24) will allocate more funds to schemes such as Dalit Bandhu, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Aasara pensions, Rs 3 lakh financial assistance for the construction of houses, free power to agriculture, crop loan waiver, and so on, while a few new welfare schemes such as Girijan Bandhu and BC Bandhu are expected to be announced.

On Wednesday, the state government began the pre-Budget exercise to design the 'election budget' by instructing secretaries of all departments to submit proposals. Official sources said the government was planning another 'jumbo budget,' this time relying on its own revenue collections rather than the Centre's grants and funds, despite a Rs 40,000 crore shortfall in the Rs 2.53-lakh crore budget tabled for fiscal 2022-23.

The ruling party which is aiming for 'hat-trick win' in Assembly polls set for December is leaving no stone unturned to channelise funds in the Budget for uninterrupted implementation of welfare schemes in this crucial 'election year'. The government has pinned hopes on its own tax and non-tax revenues, as well as the sale of government lands, to raise revenues to meet expenditure on welfare initiatives in the election year since the Centre has imposed restrictions on loans.

The state government has given up on the Centre's grants and funds after failing to realise even 40 per cent of the estimated grants and funds in the last budget 2022-23.

Year after year, the expenditure on Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima has been steadily increasing. For instance, Rythu Bandhu had 50 lakh beneficiaries when it was introduced in 2018, but this figure has now risen to 70 lakh as more land parcels placed on the 'disputed' and 'prohibited list' on the Dharani portal were cleared and pattadar passbooks were issued, adding more beneficiaries.

Similarly, farmers are partitioning their holdings with kin to ensure free Rs 5 lakh Rythu Bima insurance coverage for their family members, which adds to the state government’s burden of paying LIC premiums each year.

The BRS government was unable to deliver on its 2018 election promises of Rs 1 lakh crop loan waiver and Rs 5 lakh financial aid to construct houses for poor people who own plots. The financial aid has been reduced to Rs 3 lakh.

The government intends to give partial funding to both schemes after Sankranti festival in order to cover beneficiaries in the remaining three months of this fiscal year before March 31 and to make higher allocations in the 2023-24 Budget.

Similarly, despite a Budget allocation of Rs 17,500 crore, Dalit Bandhu was not implemented on a full scale this year. Funds could not be released due to fund crunch. The government intends to cover 1,500 beneficiaries in each Assembly constituency by March 31 and make higher allocations in 2023-24.

The CM promised Girijan Bandhu for STs in September last year and the government is expected to announce his scheme in the new Budget. It is also proposed to announce BC Bandhu in which Minority Bandhu will also be an integral part in the Budget. More allocations are likely to be made for free power, Aasara pensions, food security cards,  Kalyana Laxmi, Shaadi Mubarak, KCR Kits as beneficiaries of these schemes are increasing year after year.