Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna, on Monday, presented the annual budget for 2024-25 in the state assembly, in which he announced an increase in the amount payable to eligible beneficiaries under the Destitute Women Pension Scheme. The budget for the financial year 2024-25 has an outlay of Rs 7.36 lakh crore, higher from current fiscals budget of Rs 6.90 lakh crore. The total outlay of Rs 7,36,437.71 crore for the next fiscal includes new schemes worth Rs 24,863.57 crore, the finance minister said while presenting the budget. The outlay of the states budget for 2023-24 was Rs 6.90 lakh crore and it included new schemes worth Rs 32,721 crore. For the next fiscal, the state governments budget has estimated the total receipts at Rs 7,21,233.82 crore, which includes revenue receipts estimated at Rs 6,06,802.40 crore and capital receipts at Rs 1,14,531.42 crore. The share of tax collection in revenue receipts is estimated at Rs 4,88,902.84 crore, which includes states own tax revenue of Rs 2,70,086 crore and states share in central taxes at Rs 2,18,816.84 crore. The total expenditure is estimated at Rs 7,36,437.71 crore. Out of the total expenditure, Rs 5,32,655.33 crore has been allocated for the revenue account and Rs 2,03,782.38 crore for capital account. After deducting the total expenditure from the receipts of the consolidated fund, a deficit of Rs 15,103.89 crore is estimated in the budget. Khanna said that under the Destitute Women Pension Scheme, the amount payable to eligible beneficiaries had been increased from Rs 500 per month to Rs 1,000 per month. As many as 31,28,000 destitute women have been benefited under the scheme till the third quarter of 2023-2024, he added. Further, under the Women Farmer Empowerment Project, the target is to provide technical support by forming 200 producer groups in the financial year 2024-2025, the minister pointed out. Additionally, the Uttar Pradesh governments annual budget has also set a target of 5.1 per cent growth rate for the agriculture sector in the state. A provision of Rs 460 crore has been made for three new agriculture-related schemes in the budget. Khanna announced three schemes to push the agriculture sector. One of the schemes, the State Agricultural Development Scheme, will have a provision of Rs 200 crore. Another Rs 200 crore has been allocated for the World Bank-assisted UP Agris Scheme. The third scheme for the installation of automatic weather station-automatic rain gauge in blocks and panchayats has been allocated Rs 60 crore, the state finance minister stated. Besides, an outlay of Rs 2,400 crore has been proposed for providing electricity at concessional rates to private tube wells of farmers. The amount is 25 per cent more than the budget for the same provided in the current financial year. Khanna said that Rs 449.45 crore had been proposed for the implementation of PM Kusum Yojana, which was more than double the allocation in the ongoing fiscal. Khanna also announced that the state government is planning Aero City in Lucknow on the lines of Delhi. It will be developed in about 1,500 acres and have facilities like a 7-star hotel, park, world-class convention centres and others. Speaking on the unemployment rate in the state, the finance minister said that the UP government had so far been successful in bringing about six crore people out of poverty. Today, the unemployment rate in the state is only 2 per cent, he said. The finance minister added that a semiconductor policy has been approved by the state government and it will pave the way for the establishment and development of semiconductor units in the state, which will bring large-scale investment in the UP from within the country and abroad. Uttar Pradesh is the fourth state in the country to bring such a policy. Under the Women Farmer Empowerment Project, the target was to provide technical support by forming 200 producer groups in the financial year 2024-2025, the minister said.

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