Bhubaneswar: With elections a few months away, Finance Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha on Thursday presented the Annual Budget for 2024‐25 in the Odisha Assembly with an outlay of Rs 2,55,000 crore, around 11 per cent more than the 2023-24 budget.
As the Assembly election is approaching, the state government presented the Vote‐on‐Account to enable it to incur expenditure for the first four months of the financial year 2024‐25 on existing establishment and ongoing schemes and projects.
To defray the expenditure on existing establishments and continuing schemes and projects from April to July, 2024, 100% of BE for calamity and election-related expenses, about 50% of BE for Capital Expenditure and 40% of BE for Revenue Expenditure is taken in the Vote on Account, which is estimated at ₹1,18,000 crore, Finance Minister said in his budget speech.
It is last budget of the fifth term of the Naveen Patnaik government.
The highest resource allocation has been proposed for the School & Mass Education department with a 9.71% share in total budget size for the financial year 2024-25.
Other departments which have got maximum allocations are the Panchayati Raj Department (8.84%), Health and Family Welfare (7.74%), Water Resources (5.20%) and Planning and Convergence (4.72%).
As per 2023-24 advance estimates, Odisha’s economy is likely to register a growth of 8.5 % against the national average of 7.3 %, Arukha said.
With a focus on infrastructure, an investment of Rs.21,004 crore is proposed in the budget under roads, bridges, airports and railways. Rs. 6194 crore has been proposed for road development programme and Rs. 100 crore for Biju Expressway.
Stating that the overall food production in Odisha has doubled in the last 22 years, Finance Minister said that the state government implemented the KALIA scheme to speed up agricultural development and alleviate poverty. So far, 43.88 lakh small and 18.93 lakh landless farmers’ families have been benefited under the scheme.
Similarly, the state government undertook the Millets Mission which has brought considerable improvement in the lives of around 5 lakh farmers.
Arukha said there has been considerable improvement in the health sector and health for all is top priority for the state government. A target has been set for the development of 1,858 health centres in the next 5 years with an outlay of Rs 3,389 crore, he said.
Highlights of budget allocation for various departments:
Agriculture & Allied Sector Activities
❖ Outlay of Rs.28,944 crore under the Agriculture Budget, 2024-25, which is 17% more than last year’s allocation.
❖ Provision of Rs.2,000 crore as revolving fund to be utilised for paddy procurement operations by OSCSC.
❖ Rs. 685 crore for Food Storage & Warehousing-Procurement Operation Support System and Rs. 24 crore for Fair Price Shop Automation.
❖ Rs. 1,935 crore of direct benefit transfers under KALIA Scheme.
❖ Rs.181 crore as grants to OUAT for agricultural research, education, and infrastructure.
❖ Rs.480 crore under Horticulture Development Programme to stimulate an array of activities for the promotion of horticultural crops and holistic growth of the horticulture sector.
❖ Rs.98 crore under National Horticulture Mission for integrated development of horticulture.
❖ Rs.1610 crore towards Crop Production Management and Rs.100 crore towards Coffee Mission.
❖ Rs.582 crore towards subsidy for capital investment for the establishment of commercial agri-enterprises & for popularization of agricultural implements and diesel pump sets.
❖ Rs.275 crore under Soura Jalanidhi for bringing more area under assured irrigation
❖ Rs.45 crore as State Incentive for Micro irrigation.
❖ Rs.155 crore under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).
❖ Rs.51 crore provided to support Farmers’ Producers Organisations (FPOs) in the production, aggregation, storage, processing, distribution, and marketing of agriculture and allied sector resources for sustainable development.
❖ Rs.250 crore towards Corpus Fund for provision of Interest free loan for fertiliser and seed.
❖ Rs.830 crore towards Interest Subsidy/Subvention on farm loan.
❖ Rs.246 crore towards financial support to Cooperative Institutions and Rs.165 crore towards equity support to Cooperative Banks
❖ Corpus Fund of Rs.100 crore for Odisha State Co-operatives Marketing Federation Ltd. towards procurement of non-paddy crops.
❖ Rs.32 crore for modernisation of co-operative banks and Rs.22 crore for Warehousing Infrastructure Fund.
❖ Rs.600 crore under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for crop insurance for farmers.
❖ Outlay of Rs.360 crore for Mukhyamantri Maschyajibi Kalyan Yojana and Rs.220 crore under the scheme ‘Blue Revolution’ for integrated development & management of fisheries.
❖ Provision of Rs.125 crore under Poultry Development scheme and Rs.195 crore for Dairy Development.
❖ Rs.220 crore under the scheme ‘Rashtriya Pashudhan Vikash Yojana-White Revolution’ for the development of dairy and livestock management.
❖ Rs.171 crore under Livestock Health and Disease Control programme during 2024-25. B. Irrigation & Water Use Efficiency
❖ Total outlay of ₹14,467 crore for irrigation sector.
❖ Rs.860 crore for construction of In-stream Storage Structures to fulfil the long-felt needs of the irrigation.
❖ Rs. 1225 crore for the 2nd phase of Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation scheme to provide irrigation to additional 2.63 lakh hectares.
❖ Rs.194 crore to revive defunct Community Lift Irrigation Projects during 2024-25.
❖ Rs.320 crore under Mukhya Mantri Adibandha Tiari Yojana (MATY)-2.0 for construction of another check dams during 2024-25.
❖ Rs.1105 crore for strengthening of flood control embankments and drainage improvement works in vulnerable areas and Rs.370 crore for Mukhyamantri Disaster Resilient Saline Embankment Project.
❖ ₹375 crore for lining of canals under Canal Lining and System Rehabilitation Programme (CLSRP)
❖ ₹240 crore for modernization of irrigation projects under Nabakrushna Choudhury Secha Unayana Yojana.
