Skip to main content

Gujarat state budget shows govt doesn't believe in 'sabka sath sabka vishwas'

By Mujahid Nafees* 

In the budget for the year 2023-24 presented by the Gujarat government, only 0.024% of the budget is for the welfare of 11.5% minorities. The budget is disappointing for Gujarat's most backward minority community. Last year the minority participation in the budget was 0.033% and this year it is 0.024%. It suggests discriminatory behavior of the government toward minorities.
The Budget for 2023-24 was presented by the Gujarat Government in the Legislative Assembly by Finance Minister Shri Kanubhai Desai. The budget of the Gujarat government for the previous year 2022-23 was 243965 crores while for this year 2023-24, it is proposed to be 301022 crores, an increase of 57057 crores this year compared to the previous year which is a percentage increase of 23%.
A close look at the deprived sections and the large section of society in the budget makes, it clear that this government does not really believe in the Sabka sath sabka vishwas.
The budget for the welfare of minorities in the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment last year was estimated at 8058.67 lakhs and the revised estimate was 6595.54 lakhs due to negligence of the government. 7399.57 lakhs has been proposed by the government this year.
This amount is only 0.024% of the total budget. Gujarat has 11.5% minority population and is very backward. Looking at this matter, it is clear that the government is discriminating against minorities and creating a hindrance to the development of this community. The percentage of provision for minorities in the last year's state budget was 0.033% and this year the percentage of the entire budget is only 0.024%. The state budget is increasing steadily and for minorities, these increases are like ornaments. In this budget, the Centre's share for Pradhan Mantri Jhan Vikas Program (PMJVK) was proposed to be 600 lakhs last year but this year it has been proposed to be reduced to 300 lakhs.
In this budget, the state share for Pradhan Mantri Jhan Vikas Program (PMJVK) was proposed to be 400 lakhs last year but this year it has been proposed to be reduced to 200 lakhs.
6600 lakhs were proposed last year for scholarships, and uniforms for students under education head of minority community in this budget, which has been reduced to 6450 lakhs this year.
In this budget, pre-matric scholarship for students in the education head of the minority community was proposed 15 lakh last year but this year it has been proposed to be reduced to 10 lakhs.
In this budget, centrally awarded post-matric scholarships for students in minority community head of education was proposed to be 15 lakhs last year but this year it has been proposed to No additional provision has been made for Minority Finance and Development Corporation.
This shows that the government is discriminating against the minority community and the government does not want the minority community to develop. Less than 10% should be allocated to the state budget according to the population.
---
Convener, Minority Coordination Committee, Gujarat

Comments

TRENDING

US govt funding 'dubious PR firm' to discredit anti-GM, anti-pesticide activists

By Our Representative  The Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) has vocally condemned the financial support provided by the US Government to questionable public relations firms aimed at undermining the efforts of activists opposed to pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in India. 

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

By Rajiv Shah  Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but  what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication.

Bayer's business model: 'Monopoly control over chemicals, seeds'

By Bharat Dogra*  The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has rendered a great public service by very recently publishing a report titled ‘Bayer’s Toxic Trails’ which reveals how the German agrochemical giant Bayer has been lobbying hard to promote glyphosate and GMOs, or trying to “capture public policy to pursue its private interests.” This report, written by Joao Camargo and Hans Van Scharen, follows Bayer’s toxic trail as “it maintains monopolistic control of the seed and pesticides markets, fights off regulatory challenges to its toxic products, tries to limit legal liability, and exercises political influence.” 

105,000 sign protest petition, allege Nestlé’s 'double standard' over added sugar in baby food

By Kritischer Konsum*    105,000 people have signed a petition calling on Nestlé to stop adding sugar to its baby food products marketed in lower-income countries. It was handed over today at the multinational’s headquarters in Vevey, where the NGOs Public Eye, IBFAN and EKO dumped the symbolic equivalent of 10 million sugar cubes, representing the added sugar consumed each day by babies fed with Cerelac cereals. In Switzerland, such products are sold with no added sugar. The leading baby food corporation must put an end to this harmful double standard.

Militants, with ten times number of arms compared to those in J&K, 'roaming freely' in Manipur

By Sandeep Pandey*  The violence which shows no sign of abating in the ongoing Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur is a matter of concern. The alienation of the two communities and hatred generated for each other is unprecedented. The Meiteis cannot leave Manipur by road because the next district North on the way to Kohima in Nagaland is Kangpokpi, a Kuki dominated area where the young Kuki men and women are guarding the district borders and would not let any Meitei pass through the national highway. 

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Can voting truly resolve the Kashmir issue? Past experience suggests optimism may be misplaced

By Raqif Makhdoomi*  In the politically charged atmosphere of Jammu and Kashmir, election slogans resonated deeply: "Jail Ka Badla, Vote Sa" (Jail’s Revenge, Vote) and "Article 370 Ka Badla, Vote Sa" (Article 370’s Revenge, Vote). These catchphrases dominated the assembly election campaigns, particularly across Kashmir. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad*  The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.