Election year: UP minorities welfare budget breaches Rs 3,000 cr mark

With higher budgetary allocation, the ruling party is again hoping for rich electoral exploits in the polls

In the election year, the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh has started to loosen purse strings to keep its core constituency of the minority community in good humour.

The proposed budget for the UP Pradesh minorities' welfare department during 2016-17 financial year has been pegged at Rs 3,055 crore. This is an increase of over 8 per cent compared to the estimates for the 2015-16.

UP elections are due in early 2017 calendar. Therefore, during the course of the current financial year, before the election model code of conduct comes into force, the state governments has another window of increasing the budget further through supplementary grants when the assembly is in session.

The department came under the focus only after the Samajwadi Party (SP) came to power in March 2012 with Yadav at the helm. In his first year in office, he increased the budgetary allocation to the department by a whopping over 81 per cent from Rs 1,143 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 2,074 crore in 2012-13.

From 2011-12 to 2016-17, the state minorities' department budget has increased 167 per cent from a mere Rs 1,143 crore to Rs 3,055 crore (as per estimates).

However, some of the proposed expenditure in the budget documents are purely populist in nature and aimed at appeasing the elderly voters from the community. For example, Rs 400 crore have been earmarked for the construction of boundary wall around cremation grounds. Last year, the budget for the purpose was Rs 200 crore.

With higher budgetary allocation, the ruling SP is again hoping for rich electoral exploits in the polls.

Interestingly, the UP minorities' department's budget has breached Rs 3,000 crore for only the second time in an election year.

The first time, when its budgetary allocation had surpassed Rs 3,000 crore was in run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when SP had resorted to an interim budget as against full budget on February 21, 2014. It had proposed a budget of Rs 3,072 crore for 2014-15.

However, SP's hopes for an encore of 2012 UP polls, when it had gained a majority dislodging the then incumbent Mayawati government, came a cropper with the party managing to win only 5 seats as opposed to the tally of 73 by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (71) and its ally Apna Dal (2).

Consequently, the actual spent by the department during 2014-15 was only Rs 1,239 crore, a fall of over 47 per cent compared to 2013-14.