BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday voiced concern over some aspects of the Union budget 2023 like the drastic cut in allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and national food security programme while appreciating some good features.
The good steps are increased capital investment, support to drinking water initiatives and increasing rural housing, the chief minister said in his reaction to the budget and added that these will accelerate growth while having a social impact in rural areas.
Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s thrust on millets, the chief minister said that the ‘Odisha Millet Mission’ is a pioneering initiative in the country. “I am happy that millets have been given importance in the budget,” he stated.
Naveen voices concern over MGNREGS cut
Appreciating the focus on new world technologies like artificial intelligence and the internet of things, the chief minister said these are some of the good aspects of the budget. The focus on primitive tribal groups is also a welcome step.
He, however, said the drastic reduction of funds for MGNREGS and the food security budget along with the slashing of procurement will hit the poor people as well as farmers. About Rs 80,000 crore was spent on procurement in 2021-22 while only about Rs 60,000 crore is kept in this budget. This will cause serious problems in selling crops at minimum support prices. While in 2021-22 Rs 2 lakh crore was spent under the national food security programme, in this budget only Rs 1.37 lakh crore is kept for this purpose, he said.
The chief minister also expressed his unhappiness over the decrease or no growth in allocation for the health and education sectors. Targeting the Odisha BJP leaders for always harping on the Ayushman Bharat scheme for which an allocation of Rs 7,200 crore has been made in the budget for the entire country, the chief minister said that Odisha spends almost about Rs 2,400 crore on Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) in private facilities alone.
“If we include government facilities, it will be around Rs 6,000 crore annually under BSKY. Health is an important priority for our state. We believe in investing and in sincere efforts,” he said and asked the BJP state leaders to refrain from ‘misleading’ people about Ayushman Bharat Yojana.