New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday presented the largest ever Budget of the Delhi government as he presented the estimates for Financial Year 2021-22 from a tablet at the Assembly — setting aside Rs 69,000 crore for expenditures — with of course the largest chunks being allocated to education and health sectors — as has been a consistent trend of the government in the last six years.
Significantly, the Deputy CM, in his Budget speech, recognised the importance of the country's 75th Independence Day celebrations in light of the contributions made by the freedom fighters and announced that this Budget would be called the "Deshbhakti Budget" and that provisions had been made to host 75 weeks of celebrations — starting Friday — till August 15 to mark the 75th Independence Day.
Sisodia, who is also the Finance Minister of the Delhi government, set aside at least Rs 118 crore for various programmes and schemes to celebrate and recognise the struggles of the country's freedom fighters and went on to allocate Rs 50 crore under the "Aam Aadmi Free Covid Vaccine" separately so that Delhiites can continue getting free vaccines without having to choose between their health and their daily utilities.
Finance minister Sisodia, while presenting the Budget estimates for the next fiscal year, said that the Delhi government is preparing the Capital for 2047, by which time, estimates showed the city's population would grow to 3.28 crore.
"In this Budget, I will also propose the foundation of preparations required in 2047 in terms of appropriate infrastructure and facilities to enable the people of Delhi to live with dignity," Sisodia said.
The Deputy CM added that the goal of the Budget is to increase the per capita income of residents here and make it equal to that of Singapore by 2047. While he acknowledged that the 16 per cent increase in per capita income is "a difficult target", Sisodia said it was not impossible.
The proposed Rs 69,000 crore Budget estimate for 2021-22 is 6.15 per cent higher than that of the Rs 65,000 crore estimated for the previous fiscal and up to 17 per cent more than the revised estimates.
A large chunk of this expenditure will be covered with Rs 43,000 crore estimated tax revenues, of which the majority is expected to be recovered through GST.
A massive 24 per cent of the Budget, amounting to Rs 16,377 crore has been allocated for education, while the second-largest chunk has been set aside for the health sector at 14 per cent, amounting to Rs 9,934 crore.
The health expenditure is almost Rs 2,000 crore more than what was set aside in the previous fiscal's estimates. In addition to this, the Delhi government has allocated Rs 9,394 crore (13 per cent) for transport, roads and bridges, Rs 5,328 crore (8 per cent) for housing and urban development, Rs 3,274 crore (5 per cent) for water supply and sanitation and about Rs 4,750 crore for social welfare and security among other
departments.
The Delhi government's revised estimates for FY 20-21 had dropped down to Rs 59,000 crore from Rs 65,000 crore, with a massive hack to capital expenditures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed Revised Estimates of Rs 59,000 crore are 15.26 per cent higher than the actual expenditure of Rs 51,186 crore in 2019-20.
In this Budget, the Delhi government has kept Rs 31,200 crore for establishment and other obligatory expenditures leaving a majority of Rs 37,800 crore for schemes, programmes and projects.
Rs 51,799 crore has been set aside under Revenue and Rs 17,201 crore under Capital Outlay for
2021-22.
"It will be interesting to know that during our governance period, the budget for schemes, programmes and projects has increased substantially which shows the emphasis of our government on developmental works and welfare programmes of the citizens of Delhi," Sisodia said in his Budget speech.