A 1.18 lakh crore budget for Jammu and Kashmir was submitted in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the fiscal year 2023–2024 with a focus on providing houses in rural areas and water tap connections to 18.36 lakh people.
In-depth details about Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared ₹1.18 Lakh Crore Budget for Jammu & Kashmir
Pankaj Chaudhary, the Union’s State Minister for Finance, presented the budget for Jammu and Kashmir.
The budget pledges to double the UT’s GDP in five years and includes themes of good governance, bolstering local democracy, promoting sustainable agriculture, facilitating investment and industrial growth, creating jobs, accelerating development and inclusive growth, and empowering women and promoting social inclusion.
By the end of 2023, according to Ms. Sitharaman, it is possible that Kashmir would be connected to the rest of the nation via the rail network. The government also has plans to build light metro rail in Jammu and Srinagar during the upcoming fiscal year.
In the budget address presented to the Lok Sabha, Ms. Sitharaman stated that the entire budget projections for the fiscal year are $1,18,500 crore, of which developmental expenditures are estimated to be in the range of $41,491 crore.
She claimed that while revenue expenditure was anticipated to be 77,009 crore, predicted revenue revenues are 1,06,061 crore, leaving a revenue surplus of 29,052 crore available for capital expenditure.
The tax/GDP ratio is anticipated to be 8.82% for 2023–2024, up from 7.77% in the prior year, according to Ms. Sitharaman.
According to her, the debt-to-GDP ratio for 2023–24 was set at 49%, and the expected GDP growth for the Union territory for that year was $ 2,30,727 crore, representing an increase of 10% over the previous year.
By 2023–2024, all 18.36 lakh households in Jammu and Kashmir will have functional tap connections, according to Sitharaman, who also added that every household will receive regular, long-term, and sustainable drinking water supplies totaling at least 55 litres per person per day of the required quality.
Amounts allocated by the finance minister include 2,526.74 crore for agriculture and horticulture, 2,097.53 crore for health and medical education, 4,169.26 crore for the rural department, 1,964.90 crore for the power sector, 7,161 crore for Jal Shakti, 2,928.04 crore for housing and urban development, 1,521.87 crore for education, and 4,062.87 crore for building roads and bridges.
