BJD MP Sujeet Kumar highlights that the States of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar received what he calls a “budget bonanza.” 

He offers examples: Rs. 26,000 crore have been granted to Bihar for road projects, while Rs. 15,000 crore this fiscal and the next have been granted to Andhra Pradesh for development of the capital city of Amravati. He also points out that the government has promised support for loans from multilateral agencies for Bihar and AP.

The Finance Minister also announced a backward region grant for three districts of Odisha, he says, but adds that other regions of Odisha are equally backward as these districts. 

We don’t grudge this budget bonanza for Bihar and AP, we are happy they have gotten budgetary support, he says. “But why step motherly treatment for the other States?” he questions. 

He also questions the lack of an adequate focus on R&D, education, food and nutrition in the Union Budget, among other issues. He also says that we should spend at least 3% of our Budget on defense. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with team members shows the Budget paper before leaving for Rashtrapati Bhavan, at North Block in New Delhi on July 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the full Budget for 2024-25, sources said. Following this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her seventh budget in the Lok Sabha.

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Ms. Sitharaman, India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister, has presented five full budgets since July 2019 and an interim budget on February 1, 2024.

This is the first budget of the BJP-led NDA government in its third term in office.

Earlier today, Ms. Sitharaman called on President Droupadi Murmu before presenting the full Budget for 2024-25. As per established tradition, the Finance Minister met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before heading to Parliament.

President Murmu offered ‘dahi-chini’ (curd-sugar), considered auspicious, to Ms. Sitharaman before she left for Parliament to present the Union Budget.