By Nageshwar Patnaik in Bhubaneswar, July 25, 2024: Odisha Chief Minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, who also holds Finance portfolio, on Thursday presented a revenue surplus Budget for 2024-25 pegged at Rs.2,65,000 crore, up by 15% of the Budget Estimates for 2023-24. This is the new BJP government’s first budget.

The Budget focuses largely on four major sections – Poor, Women, Youth and Farmer in line with Prime Minister Narednra Modi’s vision of driving the country forward, Majhi said during his speech. Underscoring the importance of agriculture and allied sector, which is the largest single employment sector of the State, Majhi said, in this Budget has an increase of more than 36% in the allocation under agriculture and allied sector from Rs.24,829 crore in 2023-24 to Rs.33,919 crore in 2024-25.

Keeping its electoral promise, the CM announced that paddy will be purchased from farmers for Rs 3,100 per quintal, at a rate higher than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 2,300 per quintal. “The outdated practice of “Katni-Chhatni” in purchase process at Mandis will be discouraged by moisture meters and computerized weighing devices. These machines will simplify the process and reduce errors in the purchase. Farmers who sign up for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode will receive their money directly into their bank account within 48 hours of purchase. We have proposed a sum of Rs.5000 crore under Samrudh Krushak Yojana in the Annual Budget for the financial year 2024-25”, he added.

Emphasizing on raising farmers’ income the BJP government will take steps to include the farmers irrespective of land holdings to avail financial assistance of Rs.6000 per annum under PM-KISAN scheme as per the Government of India guidelines. To further augment the farmer’s income, the Budget makes provisions to provide Rs 1935 crore for 2024-25 under the scheme CM-KISAN.

In a bold move to promote organic farming in the stae, the Budget announces Odisha Balabhadra Jaibika Chasa Mission to promote chemical free natural farming in Kandhamal and Malkanagiri districts. Besides, the CM announced launching of Soil Health Mission for enhancing the Soil Organic Carbon, revitalizing production and productivity of neglected crops, such as jute and groundnuts, aimed at crop diversification and augmenting farmer incomes.

The Programme Budget has been increased to Rs.1,55,000 crore in this budget, which is 24% more than the provision made during 2023-24 and about 58% of the total Budget Estimates. The provision under capital outlay is Rs.58,195 crore, which is 26% more than the Revised estimate of previous year. The Capital Outlay to GSDP ratio in Odisha is 6.3%, which is one of the highest among all major States in the country, Majhi claimed.

In line with its commitment to women entrepreneurship, empowerment and financial independence, the Budget has a three-fold increase in total allocation for Women and Child Development Department and Mission Shakti Department together from Rs.6,224 crore in 2023-24 to Rs.17,942 crore in 2024-25. An amount of Rs.10,000 crore is proposed in the Budget for implementation of the Subhadra Yojana as part of the ruling party’s poll promise.

Rs.1,162 crore has been proposed in the Budget for this fiscal to implement creation of 25 lakh Lakhpati Didis in Odisha by 2027 by establishing industrial clusters for SHGs, providing facility management for product marketing and promotion. “Investing in women’s well-being directly impacts child development, creating a cycle of positive influence. Our focus is also to nurture the potential within each child and prepare them for shouldering the responsibility of the nation in future. We propose to implement Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) in convergence with MAMATA towards conditional cash transfer for maternity and infant care with total allocation of Rs.521 crore. 14. Provision of Rs.295 crore is proposed under POSHAN Abhiyaan to enhance nutritional outcomes”, Majhi remarked.

Keeping in line with the saffron party’s our Election Manifesto, the government is planning to bring in domestic investment of over Rs.2.5 lakh crore and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of over 2 billion USD to the State by 2029 through ‘Utkarsha Utkal’ investment summits. A provision for budgetary support of Rs.120 crore under “Grants to IPICOL for Investment Promotion and Publicity” has been made in the Budget for the FY 2024-25. 101. An amount of Rs.20 crore is proposed under the scheme “Financial Assistance for development of Industrial Corridor” in the Budget to develop an industrial corridor connecting Rourkela, Sambalpur, Paradip and Dhamra by June 2027.

“We are going to implement PROSPER-Odisha (Promoting Regional Opportunities and Sustaining Entrepreneurial Resilience) scheme to promote industrial clusters. This will ensure support to 1,000 entrepreneurs every year through ‘Start up India’ and incubation centres. An amount of Rs.50 crore has been proposed under the scheme “Financial Assistance for Development Industrial Clusters” in the Budget”, the CM pointed out underscoring that employment generation is a critical aspect of economic development, and both new-age industries and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) would play significant roles in this process.

Besides, the government will take up massive recruitment drive to fill up 1.5 lakh vacant government posts over a period of 5 years in a fair and transparent manner. In the next two years, 65,000 posts will be filled up. “Our Government’s vision is to make Odisha a prime destination for investment and diversify the existing metal base industry to other sectors generating gainful employment to our youth. To facilitate the industrial promotion activities, an outlay of Rs.808 crore has been proposed in the budget for Industries Department.