General Budget 2023 : Rs. 5.94 lakh crore allocated for 'Atmanirbhar' defense, record allocation for rail

In the budget, the Union Finance Minister has allocated Rs 2.4 lakh crore for Indian Railways, which will be spent on improving railway infrastructure, speeding up services.

New Delhi: Road connectivity gained importance during the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In giving importance to him, the trust of the people of the country in the railway communication gradually began to be wasted. However, in the last few years, the current NDA government has started emphasizing on passenger and goods transport by 'correcting the wrongs'. Not too long ago, the government realized the importance of railways during the Corona-lockdown in 2020. Its reflection was seen in the central budget this time. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated 2 lakh 40 thousand crores for Indian Railways. Which is the largest financial allocation for railways in the history of India. In fact, the last full budget of the second Modi government at the Center emphasized capital expenditure. In addition to railways, the allocation for defense has also increased to Tk 5 lakh 94 thousand crores. A large part of which will be spent on the manufacture of weapons and military equipment in the country. In that case, importance has been given to self-reliance.

The current central government, after coming to power in 2014, has de-emphasized railways so much that the practice of separate railway budgets has been abandoned. One section of the general budget contains allocations for railways. As allocations are made, the list of schemes is published in detail in the 'Pink Book'. This year, while reading the general budget, the finance minister has spent very few words on railways. However, the huge allocation for railways is the last attempt of the second Modi government to 'appease the anger of the middle class'. Because railways are the only means of communication for low and middle income class people.

In the budget, the Union Finance Minister has allocated Rs 2.4 lakh crore for Indian Railways, which will be spent on improving railway infrastructure, speeding up services. Besides, 75,000 new recruitments have also been announced in the budget this year. It has been announced to increase the number of Bande Bharat trains to 400 in the budget. which will be launched one by one instead of Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express. However, the allocation this time is claimed to be the highest expenditure allocation received by the railways in the history of India. This allocation at the center is 9 times the allocation received by the Railways before the start of Modi Jamana. Till 2014, the capital cost of railways was Tk 45 thousand 980 crores per annum. But in the last few years, the Center has taken up several projects related to railways. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also talked about establishing railways as an engine of national economic development of the country. That is why some economists think that this is a huge allocation. The amount allocated for railways in the budget for the financial year 2022-23 has been allocated four times this time.

On this day, the Finance Minister said, states and cities will be encouraged to emphasize urban development. 100 infrastructure projects which are most important will be identified and emphasis will be placed on implementation of these projects. The finance minister said that a committee will be constituted with experts for infrastructure improvement and financial planning. Besides, private investment in railways will also increase, said the finance minister.

China on one side and Pakistan on the other. From Ladakh to Arunachal border, a war situation is gradually emerging. In this situation, compared to the last time, Finance Minister Sitharaman increased the allocation to the defense sector. 5.25 lakh crore was allocated to the defense sector last year. 5 allocated to defense sector in 2023-24. 94 lakh crores. The finance minister said that this time in the Union budget, 1.62 lakh crore rupees have been earmarked for the purchase of new weapons, aircraft and warships and other military weapons and equipment for making weapons. Whereas the budget allocation for capital expenditure in the financial year 2022-23 was Tk 1.52 lakh crore. But later it was revised to Rs 1.50 lakh crore. According to the budget document, Rs 2,70,120 crore has been allocated for revenue expenditure. This includes salary of employees and cost of maintenance of the establishment. 2,39,000 crore was allocated for this work in the financial year 2022-23.