Presenting the Interim Budget 2009-10 in Lok Sabha, the acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed an expenditure of Rs. 953,231 crore, an increase of Rs. 150,069 crore compared to the previous year.
An estimated of Rs. 285,149 crore is placed under Plan expenditure and Rs. 668,082 crore under the Non-Plan sector. The total Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for the Plan is 17.16 per cent higher in nominal terms than the GBS Plan for the BE 2008-09.
More funds have been allotted to the Plan sector for 2009-10 which includes the Departments of Rural Development, Railways, Road Transport & Highways, Power, Information Technology and Industrial Policy & Promotion, to further facilitate the fiscal tempo in the present economic downturn and to meet the requirements of rural and infrastructure development.
Budgetary support of Rs.1, 31,317 crore has been made for a number of flagship programmes which directly impact ‘Aam Aadmi’. Rs.13,100 crore have been proposed for the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, Rs. 30,100 crore for National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), an allocation of Rs.8,000 crore has been made for the Mid-Day Meals Scheme, Rs.6,705 crore for the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Rs.11,842 crore have been allocated for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
This apart, to boost the rural infrastructure development programme, Rs.40,900 crore have been assigned for Bharat Nirman scheme. Furthermore, to bring about uniformity in the quality of preventive and curative health care in rural areas Rs.12,070 crore have been allocated for National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and an allocation of Rs.7,400 crore for Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission, and Rs.1,200 crore for Total Rural Sanitation programme.
As far as Defence sector is concerned, Rs.1,41,703 crore has been provided against the revised allocation of Rs 1,14,600 crore in 2008-09, up nearly 24 per cent. To strengthen the security of the country amid repeated terror attacks, Mr. Mukherjee allocated Rs.86,879 crore under the plan expenditure as against Rs.73,600 crore for 2008-09.
In the Interim Budget-2009-10, Gross Tax Revenue receipts at the existing rates of taxation are estimated at Rs.6,71,293 crore and Centre’s net tax revenue at Rs.5,00,096 crore for the fiscal 2009-10. With revenue expenditure estimated at Rs.8,48,085 crore, the revenue deficit amounts to 4.0 per cent of GDP. Fiscal Deficit is estimated at Rs.3,32,835 crore which is 5.5 per cent of GDP.
In agriculture sector which is growing at a pace of 3.7 per cent per annum, allocation has been increased by 300 percent between 2003-04 and 2008-09. Also a three-fold increase in short-term agriculture credit has been registered from Rs 87,000 crore to Rs 2,50,000 crore till 2007-08.
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