28-YEAR-OLD ON SOLO TRIP MISSING FROM AZERBAIJAN
LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanathled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh will spend ₹6.15 lakh crore in the financial year 2022-23, state finance minister Suresh Khanna said in his Budget speech on Thursday, adding that 25% of the total amount has been earmarked for capital spending.
The budget for 2022-23, the first annual budget in Adityanath’s second term as the chief minister, fulfils 97 out of 130 promises in the BJP’S Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, besides earmarking funds for metro rail projects, energy sector and development of religious places, including Ayodhya, Varanasi, Chitrakoot and Prayagraj, the minister said in his speech.
To be sure, revised estimates (RE) for 2021-22, which were presented along with budget estimate (BE) numbers for 2022-23, show the Uttar Pradesh government only spent 88% of the amount it had promised to spend in 2021-22. One of the reasons why the state’s spending did not live up to its 2021-22 budgetary promise seems to be a 7% shortfall in total receipts compared to what was budgeted.
This year’s Budget also shows that Uttar Pradesh is on a path of fiscal consolidation with the budgeted fiscal deficit for 2022-23 being 3.96% compared to a budget estimate of 4.72% for 2021-22. The state will still have the challenge of bringing down its debt to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) ratio, which is expected to be 32.5% in 2022-23. While this is an improvement compared to the 2021-22 (RE) level of 34.5%, it is still higher than the 29.1% value in 2020-21.
New schemes worth ₹39,181.10 crore have been proposed in the budget, which Adityanath described as “aspirational”.
“The economy of the state is improving rapidly. We believe that we will be successful in taking the state’s economy to $1 trilthe lion (in the next five years),” Khanna said in the assembly.
Talking to reporters after the budget presentation, chief minister Adityanath hailed it as an example of “efficient financial management in sync with the aspirations of 250 million people of the state”. The government will bring in a supplementary budget in December, he said.
Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said it was not “the budget but a division”.
“This is this government’s sixth budget. But there is nothing new in it, everything has got reduced,” he tweeted.
Former chief minister and Bhajan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the budget lacked credibility. “At first glance, it is like ‘old wine in new bottle’. It lacks credibility as far as the promises made by the double engine government for poverty alleviation, unemployment and removing all round distress are concerned...” she tweeted.
MUMBAI: A 28-year-old from Mumbai who was on a solo trip in Azerbaijan has been missing since May 12, his family said.
The man, Manikanth Kondaveeti, had left for Azerbaijan from Delhi via a connecting flight from Sharjah and reached Baku on April 26, his brother Dharan said.
The news came to the fore after Dharan started an online campaign seeking information for his brother on Thursday.
Dharan said they contacted the Indian Embassy in Baku on May 15, requesting them to launch a search for him.
He said that when Manikanth did not show up for his flight to Uzbekistan on May 17, the embassy stirred into action and informed the local police.