Jaipur: The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan presented its budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year on Wednesday, the highlight of which was the announcement of a Right to Health Bill under the Rajasthan Model of Public Health (RMPH).
An allocation of Rs 3,500 crore has been declared in this regard for the upcoming financial year.
“For the first time in the country, we are going to implement universal health coverage in the state in the coming year at the cost of Rs 3,500 crore,” Gehlot said, adding that each family would receive medical insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh.
The revised estimates of the 2020-21 fiscal year reveal some surprising details. The spending on education, medical, health and family welfare, and labour, was lesser than the budgeted expenditure. This is crucial, considering the firefighting expected from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time, when the health and issues of migrant and daily wage workers required urgent attention, the Gehlot government didn’t spend the intended budget.
However, the budget estimates for this fiscal year are slightly higher. For education, sports, art and culture, the allocated budget is Rs 42,64,125.72 lakh. Last year, it was Rs 38,60,491.12 lakh; out of this, Rs 36,47,253.68 lakh was spent.
For medical, health and family welfare, the budget has been increased to Rs 14,46,492.31 lakh from Rs 13,30,030.98 lakh, which is a minimal increment considering the burden that health facilities have been facing. The spending last year stood at Rs 12,63,771.02 lakh.
The labour and labour welfare sector has seen an increase in the budget estimate. This year, Rs 1,70,721.08 lakh has been set aside as compared to last year’s Rs 1,36,366 lakh. The government spent Rs 1,14,580.71 lakh for the labourers during the last fiscal year.
Some sectors also witnessed higher spending last year. The budget for welfare of Scheduled Castse, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, along with social welfare and nutrition, saw a higher spending than the estimated allocation. The revised estimate for the former stood at Rs 1,99,745.33 lakh, while for the latter, it was Rs 15,01,749.23 lakh.
This year, Rs 1,93,430.60 lakh has been set aside for the welfare of SCs/STs/OBCs and Rs 15,51,557.38 lakh for social welfare and nutrition.
Agriculture and allied services too saw an increased expenditure, with Rs 13,08,211.12 lakh being spent, as against the budget estimate of Rs 11,18,211.81 lakh. However, for this year, only a slight increment has been made in the estimate, which stands at Rs 11,28,750.29 lakh. Surprisingly, agriculture co-operatives have seen a massive dip in the budget estimate this year, falling from Rs 4,83,424.48 lakh to Rs 3,71,874.81 lakh.
Tourism rejuvenation
The Gehlot government has also announced a slew of schemes to address the economic losses caused by the pandemic. The tourism sector, one of the worst hit, has been allocated Rs 500 crore for rejuvenation.
For street vendors and the unemployed, a scheme called Indira Gandhi Shahari Credit Card Yojana has been launched that would provide a loan up to Rs 50,000 without interest to five lakh such people. For women, a free sanitary napkin distribution scheme worth Rs 200 crore has been announced.
To facilitate online classes in government-run schools, internet facilities have been provided an estimated budget of Rs 82 crore. A special ambulance service worth Rs 48 crore for the cattle-rearers has also been announced.
Apart from this, Gehlot announced the establishment of a constitution club in Jaipur.
