BHOPAL: GYANII – Garib Kalyan (poor welfare), Yuva Shakti (youth power), Annadata (farmers), Naari Shakti (women's power), Infrastructure and Industry – guided Madhya Pradesh’s annual budget for 2026-27, which was reportedly the first rolling budget by any state in the country.
The central Indian state’s deputy chief minister and finance minister Jagdish Devda presented on Wednesday, the largest ever Rs 4.38 lakh crore-plus budget in the Vidhan Sabha, amid interruptions by the opposition Congress MLAs, raising concerns about the burden of “mounting debt” of people of the state.
While proposing no new taxes, Devda presented the budget which proposed spending heavily on agriculture and farmers welfare in line with the government’s commitment to mark 2026 as Kisan Samman Varsh (year dedicated to farmers honour).
The 58-page budget speech also mentioned a slew of new schemes and initiatives, among them the Yashoda Milk Supply Scheme, under which every student up to Class VIII will be provided milk in tetra packets for additional nutrition. The scheme targets to distribute milk to 80 lakh students in 2026-207. While the scheme’s size for the next five years will be Rs 6600 crore, Rs 700 crore has been allocated for 2026-27.
The new schemes included multiple novel initiatives for the forests, including Samriddhi Van (Plantation drive after removal of encroachments from forest land), Krishi Vaniki Yojana (Plantation on private land to meet timber requirements and enhance income opportunities), Janjatiya Devlok vano ki sanrakshan Yojana (Conservation of forest areas of spiritual significance and cultural heritage).
The budget also announced the DWARAKA Scheme which will see an investment of Rs 5000 crore over the next three years for urban infrastructure development, targeted use of financial instruments such as InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust), REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), and Value Capture Fund (VCF) to enhance capital investment in infrastructure projects. Further, it announced the listing of social impact bonds soon on the National Stock Exchange to encourage investment in the social sector by service providers.
Eyeing to tap the immense tourism potential of the Bundelkhand region, the budget mentioned developing tourist destinations of the region on a global level. While Khajuraho is being developed as a global tourism destination under the 50 Globally Competitive Tourism Destinations Scheme, the adjoining Orchha is being developed under the scheme “Iconic paryatan sthalo ka Vishavik star par Vikas Yojana.”
Eyeing self-reliance in the telecom sector, a telecom manufacturing zone (TMZ) is being established in Gwalior.
In a significant step, the budget proposed that under the rural land ownership rights scheme, the state government will bear the entire cost of stamp duty and registration fees through a provision of Rs 3,800 crore.
With the state government declaring the year 2026 as Farmer Welfare Year, a massive Rs 1.15 lakh crore-plus was made for the agriculture and farmers' welfare sector, focusing on enhancing farmers’ income, productivity and security.
Realizing that infrastructure development was the key pillar of development, the budget proposed the highest ever capital outlay of Rs 1.06 lakh crore-plus (through the inclusion of extra budgetary resources-EBR) for the sector.
Among the other key sectors, Rs 31,953 crore was allocated for education, Rs 24,144 crore for the health sector and a significant Rs 49,365 crore for overall standard of living improvement.
Also, among the major schemes allotted significant funds, the 2023 assembly polls game-changer CM Ladli Behna Scheme was allocated Rs 23,883 crore, Rs 13,914 crore was earmarked for the Atal Krishi Jyoti Scheme and Rs 11,444 crore for establishing government primary schools, Rs 3060 crore for Ujjain Simhastha-2028, and Rs 1801 crore for the Ladli Laxmi Scheme.
A sum of Rs 621 crore was allocated for cow protection and livestock development, which was more than the funds proposed for Bhavantar/Flat Rate Scheme for farmers (Rs 600 crore), construction of community health, sub-health and primary health centre buildings (Rs 580 crore) and Rs 580 crore for the construction of state assisted new medical colleges.
In the aviation sector, the budget proposed Rs 300 crore for purchasing a new jet aircraft and Rs 180 crore for buying a helicopter.
Wednesday's budget was also the first Rolling Budget by any state in the country. By adopting the rolling budget approach, the annual budget presented budget estimates for 2026 –27 along with rolling budget estimates for 2027 –28 and 2028–29.
Also, the budget’s framework was uniquely based on the multidimensional poverty index (MPI), which linked the National MPI findings of NITI Aayog with the budget process, thus reinforcing the commitment to Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 1.2. A separate budget booklet on MPI-based budgeting was published this year, serving as strong evidence of the state’s continuous efforts and determination in the social sector, aiming to ensure dignity, opportunity and prosperity of every citizen through outcome-based financial management.