The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Union Budget 2024-25 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23. The budget, worth Rs 48.21 lakh crore, was approved by a voice vote. Along with the Union Budget, the lower house of the Parliament also approved the budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a voice vote.
The House also passed relevant appropriation bills. The budget was passed following a debate during which, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the Central government’s goal to narrow the fiscal deficit in coming years. She said, “The fiscal deficit of the central government is proposed to be brought down to 4.9 per cent of the GDP during 2024-25 and further to below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26.”
Sitharaman replies to opposition’s allegation of ignoring states
Earlier, the budget was sharply criticised by the opposition parties. The opposition had alleged that several states were ignored in the budget and the provisions were only made for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. They alleged that the ruling BJP tried to appease its allies in the state. In line with that, Chief Ministers of various states boycotted the NITI Aayog meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of PM Modi.
While speaking during the Parliamentary debate, the finance minister took a hard stance on the opposition’s claims. She said, “I have been picking up on Budget speeches since 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and so on. The Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 states. I would like to ask the members of the UPA government at that time – did money not go to those 17 states? Did they stop it?” She asserted that no state has been denied money in the budget.
Budget 2024-25
The budget focused on the four key pillars of society – underprivileged, women, youth and farmers. In her budget, Sitharaman mentioned nine priorities including, Productivity and resilience in agriculture, Employment and skilling, Inclusive human resource development and Social justice, Manufacturing and Services, Urban development, Energy security, Infrastructure, Innovation, research and development, and Next-generation reforms.
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