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With a special focus on the theme of ‘Deshbhakti’, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday came up with a “visionary” budget speech —7th in a row under AAP government—for 2021-22 that promised to raise the development quotient of the City-State and welfare of its residents to global standards by 2047, when India will celebrate its 100 years of independence.
Besides sharing Delhi’s “dream” of hosting the Olympics (by 2047), Sisodia also said that the government would be aiming by the year 2047 to bring the per capita income of every Delhiite on par with that of a person sitting in Singapore. A growth of 16 per cent would be required to achieve this goal successfully, he said.
Another goal for Delhi would be to completely free the city-state of vehicular pollution by 2047, Sisodia said. The aim will also be to have 25 per cent of new vehicles registered in Delhi by 2024 as electric vehicles.
Sisodia’s budget for 2021-21 — delivered from an electronic device and marking the first paperless budget —had an outlay of ₹ 69,000 crore, the highest ever, and 6.1 per cent more than the previous year. It focused on the right areas of education, health, infrastructure and sports development.
Education got an allocation of ₹16,377 crore, which is one-fourth of the total budget. On the other hand, health has received ₹9,934 crore, which is about 14 per cent of the total budget outlay.
The Delhi government will open a Sainik school in the national capital and also a preparatory academy for defence services besides launching a virtual school. Plans are afoot to open a law university besides 100 schools of excellence. Delhi is also working towards opening a sports university.
‘Deshbhakti’ Theme
In keeping with its ‘Deshbhakti’ theme, the Delhi government will celebrate 75 weeks of independence from March 12; organise programmes to honour Bhagat Singh and Babasaheb Ambedkar and put up Indian flags at 500 spots across Delhi.
Delhi government will also be opening up “mahila mohalla clinic” across the city.
“For us, it is not just about holding events on the freedom fighters. This deshbhakti budget also lays out a vision for Delhi’s progress till 2047. By 2047, the per capita income of a Delhi resident will be equal to the per capita income of a Singapore resident”, Sisodia, who has the finance portfolio, said.
Free Covid-19 vaccine
Delhi government has decided to provide free Covid-19 vaccination to every citizen at every government hospital. A budget of ₹50 crore is being allocated, Sisodia announced.
Tax Revenue
To fund its expenditure, Sisodia said that the government plans to collect ₹ 43,000 crore in taxes in 2021-22. For last fiscal 2019-20, Sisodia had projected tax revenues of ₹42,500 crore. However, the Economic Survey tabled on Monday showed that the government could collect ₹36,565 crore compared to ₹36,624 crore collected in 2018-19.
Given Covid-19 induced lockdown, the actual collection for 2020-21 is expected to be way below the targeted ₹44,100 crore.
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