Political
Special provisions made for the States of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Both are headed by parties providing crucial support to the BJP after its underwhelming performance in the 2024 general election.
The JDU headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and the Telugu Desam Party headed by his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu
Bihar has now received the largest chunk with outlays worth almost ₹59,000 crore.
These include road infrastructure outlays for ₹26,000 crore, ₹21,400 crore for a 2,400 MW power plant, and ₹11,500 crore to address irrigation and flood mitigation
While for Andhra pradesh, was a facilitation of ‘special financial support’ of ₹15,000 crore for the development of the State’s new capital, Amaravati.
Budget promised to hasten the completion of the Polavaram irrigation project ‘to ensure food security of the nation’, Budget documents do not mention concrete outlays
Economic
Both States have unsustainable public debts of about one-third, that is the debt to Gross State Domestic Product ratio, and both deserve the special attention they have received.
But piecemeal allocations for projects in the rest of the country, as for the Mumbai Metro rail
Also ignoring other similar critical infrastructure spends in Opposition-ruled States (Chennai’s Metro rail in Tamil Nadu and Kerala’s Vizhinjam port project are examples)
Ms. Sitharaman has failed to provide a fair and equitable distribution of the Union’s finances
Ignoring States that generate the most revenue for the Union runs the risk of slowing down development that has acquired critical mass to enable these States to become global economic powerhouses.
As they have begun attracting cutting-edge technology, corporates, talent and creating the required research and development base to house next-generation industries, the industrially and socio-economically advanced States too need a helping hand.
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