The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav on Friday signaled a shift from populism to development and social welfare measures. Presenting the Rs. 2,74,704.59 crore Budget for 2014-2015 in the Assembly, Mr. Yadav said the Budget offered new hope and commitment.
Significantly, the Budget is silent on the fate of Samajwadi Party's flagship laptop distribution, Kanya Vidyadhan and unemployment dole schemes. The 50-page Budget made only a passing reference to these populist measures with Mr. Yadav himself indicating that it was curtains for these progammes. Stating that in the “first phase some schemes like the laptop distribution, unemployment allowance and Kanya Vidyadhan were launched for the better future of the youth”, Mr. Yadav added that “in the second phase, the Government has planned to ensure basic facilities in the rural areas”.
At a press conference -- his first since the Samajwadi Party’s defeat in the recent Lok Sabha elections – Mr. Yadav evaded a direct reply to queries on whether these populist measures have been discontinued. Mr. Yadav said many schemes mentioned in Samajwadi Party’s election manifesto (for the Assembly polls) were launched in the first two years of his Government. “The emphasis will now be on e-books and e-libraries, as well as on infrastructure development,” he said. Instead of the unemployment dole scheme, the Samajwadi Party Pension Scheme has been launched under which Rs. 500 will be given to one beneficiary each from 40 lakh poor families. A sum of Rs.2,424 crore has been earmarked for this scheme in the Budget.
The other populist scheme “Hamari Beti Uska Kal’’ under which Rs. 20,000 was given to Muslim girls for their education and marriage has also been dumped as it finds no mention in the Budget.
It is being said that these populist measures have been dumped as they failed to provide any benefit to the ruling party in the Lok Sabha elections.
While presenting the Budget, Mr. Yadav said the focus will be on development of the farm sector and rural areas with the aim of benefitting farmers and villagers. Special steps have been taken for the development of infrastructure and encourage investment to create job opportunities, Mr. Yadav said.
The allocation for different sectors has been increased with Rs. 49,108 crore earmarked for infrastructure facilities, roads, bridges, irrigation and power. This is an increase of 82 per cent from last year. New schemes worth Rs. 20,957 crore have been included in the Budget.
The allocation for agriculture and allied activities has been increased by 15 per cent to Rs. 7,625 crore.
A sum of Rs. 25, 522 crore has been allotted for welfare schemes meant for SCs, ST, Backward Classes and Minorities. The health and family welfare sector gets Rs. 14, 377 crore while expansion of education gets Rs. 41,538 crore.
The other features of the Budget are: Rs. 12,400 crore for modernisation of police force, Rs. 359 crore for construction of toilets in village houses, Rs. 30 crore for construction of Malviya ghat, Raj Narain ghat and Lohia ghat in Varanasi and a museum to be named after Ustad Bismillah Khan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs boycotted the presentation of Budget. Earlier, during Question Hour the Bahujan Samaj Party staged a walkout and the proceedings were disrupted by BJP members who entered the Well of the House.
