BUDGET 2024-25: More in MHA kitty to battle strife

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, July 23

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has received Rs 2,19,643 crore in the Budget with the central armed police forces (CAPFs) getting a little under half of it (Rs 96,950 crore), reflecting the significance the Centre attaches to dealing with the strife in Manipur and Naxalism in Chhattisgarh.

The increase in the CAPFs’ allocation is a meagre 2.4 per cent against Rs 94,665 crore allocated to the central police forces in 2023-24.

The allocation for police infrastructure fell by 13.3 per cent to Rs 3,152 crore for 2024-25; it was Rs 3,636 crore in 2023-24. At Rs 3,720 crore, the allocation for the modernisation of the police was reduced by 0.8 per cent from Rs 3,750 crore allotted for the purpose in 2023-24.

However, the highlight of the Budget for the MHA was a huge 244 per cent hike in the allocation for schemes for women’s safety, for which Rs 1,105 crore was allotted for 2024-25 against Rs 321 crore in 2023-24.

The allocation for the Centre’s pet Vibrant Villages Programme too received a humungous hike of 250 per cent at Rs 1,050 crore for 2024-25 against Rs 300 crore allotted for the programme in 2023-24.

In February 2023, the Centre had approved the VVP as a centrally sponsored scheme for the comprehensive development of select villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts in the border states of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and the Union Territory of Ladakh.

The allocation for border infrastructure and management witnessed a 6 per cent hike at Rs 3,756 crore, up from Rs 3,545 crore. However, the budgetary allotment for the border area development programme fell by 44 per cent to Rs 335 crore in 2024-25 from Rs 600 crore in 2023-24.

The budgetary allotment for census-related work has been cut by 16 per cent to Rs 1,309 crore for 2024-25 from Rs 1,564 crore in 2023-24. Disaster management saw a 26 per cent cut in the allocation.

Higher allocation for Chandigarh, J&K

• The UTs of Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) received higher budgetary allocation for 2024-25 than the previous fiscal, while the allotment for the UT of Ladakh remained static
• Chandigarh received Rs 5,862 crore for 2024-25, 7.8 per cent more than Rs 5,436 crore in 2023-24
• J&K saw an 18 per cent hike in the budgetary allocation for 2024-25 at Rs 42,277 crore against Rs 35,581 crore in 2023-24
• The allotment for Ladakh remained static for 2024-25 at Rs 5,958 crore