New Delhi: In a marginal hike, the defence budget of the country was increased to Rs 3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21 against last year’s Rs 3.18 lakh crore, belying expectations of a significantly enhanced allocation to fast-track long-pending military modernisation.
Out of total allocation, Rs 1.13 lakh crore has been set aside for capital outlay to purchase new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware, according to the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The revenue expenditure which includes expenses on payment of salaries and maintenance of establishments has been pegged at Rs 2.09 lakh crore.
The total outlay does not include Rs 1.33 lakh crore set aside separately for payment of pensions.
The percentage of the allocation has almost remained static at around 1.5 per cent of the GDP which, according to experts, is the lowest since the 1962 war with China.
A sum of Rs 30,000 crore has been set aside for the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry for the next fiscal in the Budget announced, a 14 per cent increase over the 2019-2020 financial year.
The total amount allocated for the social services sector, which includes nutrition and social security and welfare, has been increased from Rs 3,891.71 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 4,036.49 crore in 2020-21.
The budget for the National Nutrition Mission or ‘Poshan Abhiyan’ has been increased from Rs 3,400 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 3,700 in 2020-21.
The allocation for ‘One Stop Centre’ scheme saw a major boost from Rs 204 crore in last fiscal to Rs 385 crore this fiscal.
The allocation for Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), a maternity benefit programme, has been increased from Rs 2,300 crore to Rs 2,500 crore. Under the programme, Rs 6,000 is given to pregnant women and lactating mothers for the birth of the first living child.
The allocation for the Child Protection Services programme under the Integrated Child Development Services has been increased to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 1,350 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ has been allocated Rs 220 crore in the current financial year.
The Sports Ministry also received a boost with the government allocating Rs 2826.92 crore for the next financial year, which is up by Rs 50 crore from the revised estimates of 2019-20.
The government gave a substantial hike of Rs 291.42 crore to its flagship ‘Khelo India’ programme for development of sports at the grassroot and youth level, which meant that most of the other heads got reduced allocation in an Olympic year.
The highest reduction was for National Sports Federations with Rs 245.00 crore, Rs 55 crore less than the revised Rs 300.85 for 2019-20.
As far as incentives for sportspersons are concerned, the budget has proposed to slash the amount from Rs 111 crore to Rs 70 crore. The budget for National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) also got reduced to Rs 50.00 from the earlier Rs 77.15 crore.
In the budget for 2019-20, Rs 2216.92 was allocated for sports but it was later revised to 2776.92.
Agencies