Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi who holds the Finance portfolio, presented the budget for the 2024-25 financial year with an outlay of Rs 2.65 lakh crore, about 15 per cent higher than that of 2023-24 (Rs 2.30 lakh crore) in the Assembly on Thursday.
“This is a significant initiative towards making Odisha a developed state as this annual budget for 2024-25 financial year is the first budget of our government. The formation of Odisha will complete 100 years in 2036. So, the coming decade is vital for us and we are working out a strategy to achieve the dream of a Vikshit Odisha in this decade,” said Majhi.
Majhi said the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Odisha has been estimated to grow at 8 per cent in 2024-25 while the Reserve Bank of India has estimated the country’s GDP to grow at 7.2 per cent in the current year.
The government has allocated Rs 33,919 crore for Agriculture and allied activities for 2024-25 which is 36 per cent more than the allocation of Rs 24,829 crore in the previous financial year of 2023-24.
While Rs 5,000 crore has been earmarked for the Samrudha Krushaka Yojana, Rs 1,935 crore allocated for a new scheme ‘CM Kisan’ under which additional amount or top-ups will be provided to the farmers across the state to further boost their financial status.
CM Majhi has also announced the launching of another scheme, ‘Odisha Balabhadra Jaivik Chasa’ yojana under which organic farming will be promoted in Kandhamal and Swabhiman Acnhal of Malkangiri district.
Majhi has allocated a total Rs 14,111 crore for various programmes related to the irrigation sector.
The BJP government has earmarked Rs 10,000 crore in the budget for the implementation of Subhadra Yojana to fulfil one of the major poll promises made to the women voters of the state.
Similarly, Rs 1,162 crore has been allocated to achieve the target of creating 25 lakh ‘Lakhpati Didis’ by 2027.
CM Majhi launched a new scheme ‘Jashoda’ with an outlay of Rs 83 crore to provide financial assistance to orphan children of the state.
The total allocation for public health care for the financial year 2024-25 stood at Rs 21,200 crore which is about 8 percent of the State Budget which includes the provision of Rs 5,450 crore for the Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana (earlier BSKY scheme) .
While Rs 35,536 crore has been allocated for the Education Sector, the total allocation for various women and child centric policy and welfare measures including the Subhadra Yojana is Rs 17,942 crore.
The government allocated Rs 1,315 crore for the sports sector in 2024-25 which includes the proposal to construct a new stadium in Bhubaneswar.
In another major announcement, the state government has announced the increase in pension amount for citizens above 80 years and persons with 80 percent or more physical disability to Rs 3,500 under the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana and National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) scheme.
Besides the allocation of Rs 500 crore towards corpus fund for promotion and propagation of Jagannatha Culture, the BJP government allocated Rs 200 crore towards the corpus fund for Odia Asmita for the promotion and propagation of Odia Asmita.
This apart, the new BJP government has renamed several schemes launched by the previous BJD government that includes Ama Odisha, Nabin Odisha as Viksit Gaon, Viksit Odisha, Biju Swastya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) as Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana.
–IANS
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