Harsh Vardhan Tripathi
On the tenth day of the country’s budget, the people of the country’s largest state will start electing their representatives. The country’s budget will come on February 1 and in the first phase, voting will be held for 58 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Elections will be held in all the 403 seats of the country’s largest state in seven phases and along with it the people of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur will also elect their people’s representatives in different phases.
Due to the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, even though the governments of the election states cannot make any announcements, but a big provision can be expected in the budget of the country to speed up the plans of those states. Every budget of the Narendra Modi government revolves around major economic reforms, but this budget shows little sign of any such major economic reforms or the scope of provision for it.
Before presenting the budget, it is a matter of great relief for Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that in the election environment, there is very little comment on the specifics of the budget and, in view of the ill-effects of the virus era, the public is expecting a lot from the government. is not sitting.
There is also a good thing for the Finance Minister before the budget, the International Monetary Fund has estimated the growth rate of India to be above 9 percent. Also, the revenue collection from GST has also been good. In such a situation, along with industrial reforms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, through social schemes, the expansion of the policy of reaching different sections from the budget provisions can be seen in this budget as well.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has got the biggest electoral benefit of cooking gas through the Ujjwala scheme, first in the 2017 and then in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Along with this, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Urban and Rural Housing Scheme can also be seen effective in all the election states including Uttar Pradesh. So far, about 43 lakh houses have been built in Uttar Pradesh. Except for a few days in the second wave of corona virus, the Yogi Adityanath government of UP did better management.
In the Economic Survey to be presented on Monday, the estimate of GDP will be monitored, estimates have often been wrong in recent years.
In this, the state government’s speedy implementation of the plan of the Center to open medical colleges in all the districts was also there. In the budget to be presented on February 1, the share of electoral states in the big provision on basic health facilities can be clearly visible. The plan of smart cities in the country was widely promoted, but till now the government has not been able to put forward any city as a smart city. In this budget, along with the achievements of the smart city so far, the government can highlight the plan ahead. The budget provision under the Smart City Project can be increased in the religious, cultural heritage cities of Uttar Pradesh- Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura, Prayagraj. With the Prayagraj Kumbh, many works of the Smart City project were completed rapidly.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been working on the strategy of reaching the backward, weaker sections through the schemes of the central government. In this budget also, the provision on social schemes can be increased keeping in mind the electoral states. The talk of accelerating infrastructure development projects through the National Infrastructure Pipeline can also be heard in the budget. Connecting the cities of Uttar Pradesh with air service along the Bundelkhand Defense Corridor can also be mentioned prominently in the budget.
The completion of the work on the Chardham Highway project will be seen as a priority of the government in the budget after the court removes the hurdle in the way of the Chardham Highway project. At present, the government does not seem to be taking the risk of re-implementing agricultural laws, but some new provisions for farming and farming will definitely be seen in the budget for different states. Especially for the farmers of Punjab, apart from paddy and wheat, a special scheme can also be announced in this budget, so that gradually the farmers of Punjab can be motivated towards cash crops outside the purview of MSP.
To achieve the goal of doubling the income of farmers, it is necessary that agricultural laws should be implemented, but now the Modi government, avoiding implementing it directly, prepares farmers for modern laws through the states. The blueprint for doing this can also be presented in the budget. The Central Government has already fixed a target of five years on the creation of Agricultural Producer Organizations.
In terms of road, railway and airspace infrastructure, budget provisions can be seen for Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur, including Uttar Pradesh. Right now the Bharatiya Janata Party is making a big issue in the state elections for the first cargo train arriving in Manipur in 75 years. Electoral states may get the bulk of Vande Bharat trains.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman can also talk about the proposed bullet train from Delhi to Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Uttar Pradesh, in the budget. Metro trains can also be announced in new cities in the election states. The Modi government is well aware of the fact that, in order to conduct the elections of these five states including Uttar Pradesh, it is very important to see the welfare of these states in the budget and it will be seen to be happening.
(The author is a political expert and a blogger in Hindi)
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