VISAKHAPATNAM: Finance Minister Buggana Rajendra Reddy on Friday tabled a child budget of Rs 16,903.17 crore for 2022-23. Stating that child budgeting presents the State’s commitment to children-focused schemes and policies, he said the first child budget was presented in the State in the current fiscal, 2021-22, with an outlay of Rs 16,748.47 crore.
“The State wants to create an enabling environment where children are able to realise their full potential and live a healthy and peaceful life...” he said. The highest allocation of Rs 3,500 crore was made towards the implementation of the Mana Badi-Nadu Nedu scheme, followed by Rs 2,500 crore for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. Other schemes which got bulk allocations are Rs 2,303.38 crore for YSR Sampoorna Poshana and YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus, and Rs 1595.55 crore for Jagananna Gorumudda. Similarly, Rs 750 crore has been earmarked for Jagananna Vidya Kanuka.
Also, an amount of Rs 1217.26 crore has been allocated for ICDS, Rs 500 crore for YSR Aarogyasri and Rs 75 crore for YSR Arogya Asara in the child budget. “The government introduced Sampoorna Poshana and Sampoorna Poshana Plus schemes in 2020-21 to address the problems of anaemia and malnutrition among children aged 36-72 months,” he noted and added 6.41 lakh pregnant and lactating women are entitled to get monthly iron and protein-rich millet-based ‘take-home nutrition kits’ and daily one full meal at Anganwadis.