Business Standard

WHAT MADHYAPRAD­ESH DID WITH ITS MONEY

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Finance Minister of Madhya Pradesh Jay ant Malai ya had presented the state Budget for financial year 2018-19 on February 28, 2018. The Budget was especially important because this is an election year: Madhya Pradesh will hold assembly polls later this year.

Some highlights

To ensure that farmers get a beneficial value for their crops, the government had launched the Mukhyamant­ri Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana. Under the scheme, the difference between the support price and the market price is directly deposited in the bank accounts of farmers. According to the budget ,~15 billion was deposited in 1.05 million farmer accounts. The budget allocates ~374.98 billion to the agricultur­e sector. Under the National Health Mission, the government allocated ~19.75 billion for 2018-19. The government had launched the Swasthya Kshetra Nivesh Protsahan Yojan a to promote investment for establishi­ng hospitals and dispensari­es. The budget has proposed setting up 10- bed hospitals in rural areas with a 40 per cent investment from the government, and the remaining from private parties. The government announced the constructi­on of a six-lane express way between Bhopal and Ind ore at an estimated cost of ~50 billion. The target of constructi­ng 3,000 km roads and 150 bridges, along with renovating 3,500 km roads in 2018-19, has been set. How does MP stack up against other states in terms of expenditur­e? Education: Madhya Pradesh has allocated 12.9 percent on education in 2018-19. This is lower

than the average expenditur­e allocated to education by 18 other states.

Health: Madhya Pradesh has allocated 2.8 per cent of its expenditur­e on health, lower than the average expenditur­e of 18 other states.

Agricultur­e: The state has allocated 4.5 per cent of its budget on agricultur­e — lower than the

allocation­s of 18 other states (6.4 per cent).

Rural developmen­t: The state has allocated 8.9 per cent of its expenditur­e on rural developmen­t. This is significan­tly higher than the average (5.6 per cent) of the 18 other states.

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