On Friday, Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of Rajasthan and holder of the state’s financial responsibility, presented the state’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year of 2023-24. Director (Budget) Brajesh Sharma, Secretary (Budget) Rohit Gupta, Secretary (Expenditure) Naresh Kumar Thakral, and Secretary (Revenue) Krishna Kant Pathak were all present for the finalisation of the Budget paper.
The current Ashok Gehlot-led government, which will be replaced later this year, will present its final Budget. Key points from the Budget are as follows:
- Ujjwala scheme participants will receive one LPG cylinder at a discounted price of Rs 500, totalling 76 million people.
- Homeowners will now receive 100 free monthly electricity units, up from 50.
- It only takes a single payment to register for several exams and participate in various competitions.
- The annual maximum for medical coverage provided by the Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme has been raised from Rs 10 million to Rs 25 million.
- Roughly Rs 19,000,000,000.00 in inflation relief for the general public. Each month, low-income families will receive a free food package as part of the package.
- One kilogramme of pulses, one kilogramme of sugar, one kilogramme of salt, and one litre of edible oil will be provided free of charge every month to nearly one crore families who fall under the provisions of the National Food Security Act. This will cost around Rs 3,000 crore.
- Employees of state-level boards and corporations will continue to be eligible for pension benefits under the old plan. Personnel at boards, corporations, academies, and universities will be eligible for the scheme’s benefits.
All public and private universities in the state will broadcast the state budget in real time for the first time ever. Earlier, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, minister of food and civil supplies, said the budget would be unique because it would boost savings, help the public, and speed up progress in the state.
Ashok Gehlot recounted the state’s budget from the previous year, and Raje said, “One can guess how safe the state is in the hands of CM Gehlot.”
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, who also holds the Finance portfolio, while presenting this year’s budget, starts reading an old one. The Chief Whip had to step in and stop him. Embarrassing as it is, also shows how callous and poorly invested Congress is, in matters of governance… pic.twitter.com/I6a4RnqcKr
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 10, 2023
The chief minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, caused a significant scandal on Friday when he presented the state budget for the previous year (2022-23) in the Rajasthan assembly instead of the budget for the current year (2023-24). The chief minister has been under fire from the opposition BJP, which has claimed that the state’s budget was stolen.
Ex-Chief minister Raje Vasundhara has stated, “CM read the old budget for a whole 8 minutes. In my previous role as CM, I always double-checked and read the budget several times before presenting it. How secure the state would be with a chief executive who reads from a previous year’s budget is easy to conceive.”
Originally scheduled for this past Friday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had to cancel his presentation of the state’s budget. He began reading the Budget address and continued for a while before realizing that he was reading an outdated Budget. The minister of the Congress party, Mahesh Joshi, managed to derail his plans.
While reading the document aloud, Gehlot began referring to previously mentioned schemes and urban development plans that were put into action the previous year. Chief Minister Gehlot was eventually halted by Congress leader Mahesh Joshi, at which point he apologized.
If #SMKrishna got Padmabhushana for reading the Portuguese foreign minister’s speech, Ashok Gehlot might get Noble for economics…🤣🤣🤣
— UVK🇮🇳 (@UDRVK) February 10, 2023
Read more at: https://t.co/uZ0iN2Vc94 He deserves Padma award
During the budget presentation, opposition BJP members stormed the Assembly, disrupting the proceedings. Gulab Chand Kataria, leader of the BJP in Rajasthan, demanded to know if the Budget had been stolen. “The budget as it is cannot be submitted. Where did you hear about it? “His inquiry was direct.
Former Rajasthan chief minister and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje criticized Gehlot for the gaffe, saying, “Before presenting the annual budget, I used to double-check and read everything several times over when I was the CM.
#WATCH | Rajasthan State Assembly proceedings disrupted as the Opposition alleges that CM Ashok Gehlot presented old budget today
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) February 10, 2023
This budget cannot be presented. Was it leaked?: BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria pic.twitter.com/Ns4jCrVoYY
How secure the state would be with a chief executive who reads from a previous year’s budget is easy to conceive.”
For his part, Gehlot fired back at the Opposition, saying, “You may point out only if there is a difference between what is written in the Budget in my hand and its copies delivered to the House members.” He dismissed the claims of a leak and questioned how the issue had ever come up. He said that he had an extra page inserted into his copy of the Budget by accident.
भाजपा सिर्फ़ यह दिखाना चाहती है कि वह राजस्थान के विकास और तरक्की के खिलाफ है। इनका मन-गढ़ंत आरोप कि बजट लीक हो गया यह दर्शाता है कि बजट को भी यह अपनी ओछी राजनीति से नहीं छोड़ेंगे। 'बचत, राहत, बढ़त' में एक ही बाधा है – भाजपा।
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) February 10, 2023
After a disturbance in the Assembly, the meeting was postponed for 30 minutes. To correct what he called a “wrong history,” Assembly Speaker CP Joshi expressed regret. He claimed that nothing like this had ever happened before. However, “nothing will be omitted from the Assembly proceedings,” he stressed, following the opposition’s request.
