Delhi Budget 2024: Govt Proposes Allowance Scheme For Young Women, Allocates Rs 16,396 Crore For Education Sector

The govt launched a new scheme, titled, ‘Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana’, to provide an allowance of Rs 1,000 every month to women over the age of 18 years

Delhi Finance Minister Atishi Marlena tabled the Budget in the Assembly for the 2024-25 fiscal year on Monday. The minister allocated Rs 76,000 crore for the upcoming fiscal in the Budget presentation, with Rs 16,396 crore set aside for education in FY25. The Delhi Assembly's Budget session commenced on February 15 and was prolonged until March 8, 2024, possibly making it the lengthiest assembly session for the national capital under the current AAP government.

Education

The FM announced an allocation of Rs 100 crore for the State Council of Educational Research and Training to help provide training to teachers. Further, the AAP government set aside Rs 150 crore towards building new schools and classrooms, and Rs 45 crore towards maintaining existing classrooms. The government also allocated funds worth Rs 42 crore towards Schools of Specialised Excellence in the upcoming 2024-25 fiscal. Atishi also announced distribution of Rs 118 crore towards sports education and Rs 1,212 crore for higher education and technical education.

Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana

To help young women become independent and take care of their expenses, the government launched a new scheme, titled, ‘Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana’. The scheme will see the government provide an allowance of Rs 1,000 every month to women over the age of 18 years. The finance minister said that the government has set aside Rs 2,000 crore for the scheme in FY25. To be eligible for the scheme, women will have to be above the age of 18 years, be a Delhi resident, and not be an income tax payer. Those women who are either beneficiaries of any government scheme or government employees will not be eligible for the scheme. 

Healthcare

Presenting her first Budget for the Delhi government, Atishi proposed funds worth Rs 6,215 crore for the development and maintenance of the hospitals in the national capital region. The government also set aside Rs 8,685 crore for the overall healthcare sector in the upcoming fiscal year. This marked the tenth Budget presented under the Aam Aadmi Party government. 

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Infrastructure

Further, as a push towards green mobility, the Delhi government said that it plans to expand the public transport bus fleet to over 10,000, with electric buses accounting for more than 80 per cent of the overall fleet by 2025. Atishi announced a budget of Rs 510 crore for the development of electric buses. For the development of Phase IV of the Delhi Metro, the FM suggested an allocation of Rs 500 crore.

Boost To Entrepreneurs

To boost entrepreneurship in the youth, the Kejriwal-led government also proposed the implementation of the ‘Business Blaster’ scheme in the universities in the capital and the ITIs and set aside funds worth Rs 15 crore for the same. Atishi noted that the government will help provide support and seed money to young entrepreneurs to help them realise their dreams. 

Unauthorised Settlements

For the development of unauthorised colonies in the city, FM Atishi announced an allocation of Rs 902 crore for the upcoming fiscal year. The Indian capital city has about 1,800 unauthorised colonies with nearly 30 per cent of the region’s population residing here. Nearly 1,400 such colonies have access to water and sewer lines, along with a road network of over 5,000 km.