UP Budget 2023: Yogi Govt Must Practice What It Preaches To Bag Success in 2024

Govt needs to compose a concrete roadmap for higher education, minority welfare & caste census issues in the state.

Image: Deeksha Malhotra/The Quint

The Yogi Government 2.0 looks formidable and is marching ahead every day with its incorruptible commitment to the people of the state to make Uttar Pradesh the most prominent centre for investment, infrastructure, and inclusiveness. The bold, decisive, and disciplined leadership of the chief minister is the key to how the state has transformed its image and indexes in recent years.

The law and order situation has seen a drastic improvement in the state and is steering a new investment story. The recent Global Investor Summit is a testimony to the fact that Uttar Pradesh is driving the growth story of 'New India'.

The incumbent government has been able to create a new paradigm shift in policy implementation and a change in the outlook of the state from a BIMARU connotation to a model of Holistic Development.

• The highest and the most promising budget of the state so far was presented by the finance minister

• The inscribing part of the budget is the special allocation of Rs 32,721 crore for new schemes

• In the budget, the idea of women empowerment holds special attention

• However, the government also has to spruce up the enrollment ratio in higher education

• The UP government will have to compose a concrete roadmap about the welfare of minorities in the state

UP's Annual Budget Heralds Promises of Fiscal Growth

The annual budget of Uttar Pradesh 2023-24 marks the beginning of a new era of fiscal dispensation in the history of federal India. The highest and the most promising budget of the state so far was presented by the finance minister of the state which holds a concrete roadmap for a new economic concoct, comprehensive growth, and a self-reliant state.

The budget is propitious and idiosyncratic in qualitative and quantitative aspects. It amounts to Rs 6,90,242.43 crore and the state’s gross domestic product is projected to grow by 19% in nominal terms in 2023-2024 as compared to a 16.8% growth in 2021-2022 which is the highest for the state.

The sole motive of the government is development and the current fiscal management of the state aims to transcend all and reach up to the last person of the society.

There is a symmetrical approach that is precisely evident in the annual budget of the state, aiming to include all and exasperate none. It is an amalgamation of goals of economic prosperity, infrastructural development, attaining self-reliance, cultural excellence, social outreach, and political masterstroke for the state. The chief minister is working consistently on the mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Viswas, and Sabka Prayas' preached by the prime minister of the country and the first budget of the Amrit Kal is going to reap possible electoral benefits for the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls of 2024.

Key Highlights for all Communities

The inscribing part of the budget is the special allocation of Rs 32,721 crore for new schemes, especially aimed to benefit the infra-push, farmers, youth, and women as the thrust areas in addition to the focus on expanding the tourism base of the state with the rise in evolving cultural tourism and hospitality industry.

A sum of Rs 2,500 has been allocated to the preparations for the 'Maha Kumbh Mela' of 2025, and Rs 1 lakh has been allocated for each Madrasa for setting up computer labs whereas modernisation has found a new boost in the budget as a sum of Rs 3,000 crore has been earmarked for CM’s Urban Expansion Scheme.

It is noteworthy that Rs 3,600 crore has been allocated for the distribution of tablets/smartphones to eligible students and Rs 60 crore under the IT and startups policy marking the augment of knowledge-based development.

In the budget, the idea of women empowerment holds special attention with Rs 1,050 crore proposed under the Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumagala Yojana, Rs 600 crore on the Mukhyamantri Samuhik Vivah Yojana, and Rs 4,032 crore for the maintenance of destitute widows.

Agro Revamp on the Agenda

There is exultation and prospect for the agrarian community of the state as the budget has the provision of Rs 1,500 crore to provide a 100 percent discount on electricity bills of private tubewell consumers which is a part of the poll promise by the government.

The state faced the continuous challenge of stray bovines roaming at large and destroying the crops of the farmers and with the budget comes great relief for the farmers as there is an allocation of Rs 120 crore for the establishment of cow protection centers and Rs 750 crore for their maintenance.

The government also aims to revamp the rural infrastructure and Rs 21,159 crore has been allocated for the construction of roads and bridges with Rs 1,525 crore for roads specifically in rural areas, and Rs 6,209 crore for its maintenance.

Education Needs Boost, Minority Welfare To Be Prioritised

The Budget for 2023-24 represents a new peregrination for the Yogi-led government, to develop a UP-Model to lead the national narrative of development and engineer a new space in the country's national politics.

However, the government also has to spruce up the enrollment ratio in higher education, and there is a grey area in the budget related to the implementation of NEP uniformly across the state. There is discord as the opposition has tagged the budget as 'directionless' and 'illusionary'.

The UP government will have to compose a concrete roadmap as to how they are going to address the pertinent question of the welfare of minorities in the state and how to deal with the opposition's continual insistence on a caste census.

Furthermore, it is faced with the daunting task of implementing the promises before the Lok Sabha polls next year, and the success of this budget can in all ways prove to be the political masterstroke of the Yogi Adityanath-led government.

(Digvijay Singh is an assistant professor at the University of Delhi and the founder and director of the House of Political Empowerment (HoPE) Research and Innovation Foundation. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)