What perceived as another attempt to belittle the Minority community in the state, as the Telangana government gave priority to Tribal Welfare Department over Minority Welfare in budgetary allocation for the year 2022-23.
As against the budget allocation of Rs. Rs.3,415.41 crore for Tribal Welfare Department, the government placed budget estimation of Rs.1,728.71 crore for Minorities Welfare Department which is even lesser then the allocation of Rs. 1,976.59 crore earmarked for Department of Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens in the budget.
Arguing that minorities got a raw deal in budget allocation, Syed Iftekhar Hussaini, a community activist said, “Already the budget allocation made in the last budget sessions was not properly used. Not more than Rs.500 crore funds has been utilised in previous years. Barely Rs.496 crore has been spent in the year 2021-2022.
“Over half of the budget was simply spent on organising religious festivals, Iftar parties and distribution of wears among various communities that largely holds no worth. What is the necessity of spending such huge funds on bootless celebrations while millions of people, especially in the old city are living their lives below the poverty line?” he contended.
The important aspect of this year’s budget is the mention of the most contentious and argued-over Metro Rail project for the Old City. The government has made a mention of the project this time in its budget allocating Rs.500 crore for metro connectivity to Old City (from MGBS to Falaknuma).
The naysayers also disapproved of the Budget allocation for Agriculture and Cooperation questioning the veracity of the government in spending the same.
Srinivas Harkara, a senior advocate and founder of ‘City of Terrace Gardens’ (CTG), said “A whopping Rs.24,254.35 crore has been allocated for the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation with specifying the target areas and groups. More so Rs.2,768.68 crores has been allocated to benefit the Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries despite the fact that we are largely counting on seafood from the neighbouring state. The budget allocation is completely impractical and illusory.”
The Telangana Government on Tuesday placed the Budget of Rs. 2,56,958.51 crore for the financial year 2022-23 that includes 1,89,274,.82 crore of revenue expenditure and 29,728.44 capital expenditure.
The Finance Minister T.Harish Rao presented a whopping 2,56,958.51 crore Budget for the financial Year 2022-23 in the State Legislative Assembly today keeping the government schemes like Talangana Balit Bandhu and Rythu Bandhu on top priority.
The government presented a budget estimation of Rs.17,700 for the Telangana Dalit Bandhu under major schemes followed by Rs. 14,800 crores for Rythu Bandhu. While the government allocated Rs. 11,728 crores for Aasara pensions to the disabled and other vulnerable categories in the state, it has arguably confined it to Rs.2,750 crores for Kalyana Lakshmi / Shadi Mubarak schemes.
However, the Telangana government showed indulgence while making allocation for scholarships and DIET as this segment has secured an allocation of Rs.4,688 crore in the budget.
Besides this, the government allocated Rs.1,466 for Insurance to Farmers, Rs.10,500 for Power Subsidy, Rs,2,787 for Rice Subsidy and Rs.443 crore for KCR Kit, a government flagship program.
