Parliament monsoon session: No state has been denied money in Union Budget 2024, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Pic/PTI

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday termed misleading claims by opposition leaders that if any state is not named in the Union Budget 2024 speech, then it does not get any budgetary allocation.

Replying to a Union Budget 2024 discussion in the Lok Sabha during the Parliament monsoon session, Sitharaman asserted that no state was being denied money, reported PTI.

She recalled that in the past Budgets by the UPA government also did not mention names of all states in their Budget speech.

"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?" Sitharaman said during the Parliament monsoon session, reported PTI.

She was responding to comments by several opposition members that the Union Budget 2024 has provided funds only to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and nothing to other states.

Sitharaman said India is the fastest-growing economy globally and has overcome the after-effects of the pandemic due to heavy capex push.

She also said the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory. It will bring down the deficit to below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9 per cent for the current fiscal. The deficit was 5.6 per cent in 2023-24, reported PTI.

The Budget has provided substantial financial support of Rs 17,000 crore to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir this year. It includes Rs 12,000 crore towards financing the cost of J&K police, reported PTI.

"That's the burden we want to take on our shoulders," Sitharaman said.

"The National Commission on Farmers had recommended in 2006 that the Minimum Support Price should be at 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production. This was not accepted by the UPA government. The cabinet note, which was drafted in July 2007, said that MSP is recommended by the CACP based on objective criteria considering the variety of factors involved. Therefore, increasing by at least 50% on the cost may distort the market. In some cases, there may be a mechanical linkage between MSP and the cost of production per producer. After saying this, the UPA govt rejected the MS Swaminathan report in 2007...Congress Party can go on shedding crocodile tears about farmers, but no implementation was done in the last 10 years," she said.

(With inputs from PTI)