The BJP-led administration claims that the budget would contribute to Uttar Pradesh’s goal of having a $1 trillion GDP by 2027.
On February 22, Uttar Pradesh’s finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna revealed a Rs 6.90 lakh crore budget for 2023–2024 that includes significant funding for social welfare and infrastructure, the two cornerstones of the Yogi Adityanath administration’s growth strategy. According to the government, the budget will assist the United States to reach its goal of a $1 trillion economy by 2027.
A total of Rs 32,721 crore has been allocated in the budget for brand-new programs geared towards infrastructure, youth, women, and farmers. Under the Jal Jeevan Project, which seeks to provide piped drinking water to every family, Rs 25,350 crore has been set aside as one of the primary allocations. In the previous budget, the initiative received an allocation of Rs 19,500 crore.
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister, claimed that because no new taxes were being proposed and funding for government programs was raised, the budget will bring relief to the people. He asserted that 110 of the 130 promises made during the 2022 assembly elections had already been met by the BJP government.
The CM’s Urban Growth Programme will receive Rs 3,000 crore from the budget, and the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj in 2025 would receive Rs 2,500 crore. The budget calls for agricultural modernization, which, among other things, aims to dissuade young people from leaving rural regions in pursuit of work. An allocation of Rs 20 crore has been provided for the “Agritech Startup Program” in four agricultural institutes in the state in an effort to draw young people into agriculture. A budget of Rs 3,000 crore has been set up for the construction of new industrial cities with the intention of creating jobs.
The budget gives special consideration to improving rail and ropeway connectivity, including Varanasi’s construction of India’s first “urban ropeway.” Four cities will each receive Rs 2,500 crore to establish their metro train systems. The Kanpur Metro Rail Project has been allocated Rs 585 crore, the Agra Metro Project Rs 465 crore, and further projects in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, and other towns have been allocated Rs 100 crore. The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System project has been allocated Rs 1,306 crore.
The budget was criticized as “directionless” by the opposition Samajwadi Party. The budget is heavily focused on infrastructure development and will draw investment, which will be advantageous for both rural and urban areas, according to Prof. A.P. Tiwari, an economist based in Uttar Pradesh and a former dean of academics at Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow. More chances for kids in rural regions are created through MSMEs’ focus on ODOP (One District One Product).