Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao announced the annual budget for the financial year 2021-22, for Telangana state today. The budget has been estimated at Rs 2.30 lakh crore, with a projected revenue surplus of Rs 6,743 crore. This year’s budget is 63% more than the revised estimate of Rs 1.46 lakh crore for the year 2020-21, and this is despite the fact that there has been a major financial slump because of Coronavirus last year.
Harish Rao said that the government will continue to give priority to both the welfare of the people and the development of the state, despite the draining caused due to coronavirus. The revenue expenditure is estimated at over Rs. 1.69 Lakh Crores, while the capital expenditure is estimated at Rs. 29,046.77 Crores and the fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs. 45,509.60 Crores.
The finance minister said that the agricultural and allied sectors had registered a 17.7 per cent growth in 2020-21, while the secondary and service sectors recorded negative growth of 5.2% and 1.9% respectively. The state has recorded a positive growth of 1.3% in GSDP (Gross Domestic State Product) when compared to the negative growth of 3.8 per cent growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country due to the adverse impact of the pandemic.
A whopping Rs. 1,000 Crores has been allotted for the Chief Minister’s Dalit Empowerment Programme, which is a new program that the state government has introduced this year. Harish Rao said that this scheme will promote the overall welfare of the people belonging to the Dalit community, which was inspired by Dr. BR Ambedkar’s example.
Apart from this, Rs. 2,750 Crores has been allotted for Kalyan Lakshmi/Shadi Mubarak, Rs. 21.306.85 Crores for special component for SCs, Rs. 12,304.23 Crores for special component for STs, Rs. 338 Crores for weavers’ welfare and Rs. 5,522 Crores for BC welfare.