Home Ministry’s outlay increased by 3.4%

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, February 1

The allocation for Ministry of Home Affairs was pegged 3.4 per cent higher at Rs 2,02,868 crore for 2024-25 in the Interim Budget, compared to Rs 1.96 lakh crore allotted in the previous one. The allocation for the police department also saw a rise of 3.5 per cent to Rs 1,32,345 crore from the last year’s allocation of Rs 1.27 lakh crore.

Among the union territories, Delhi saw the lowest allocation, with status quo being maintained in Delhi’s share at Rs 1,168 crore, since the same amount was given in 2023-24.

The share for Lakshadweep, however, saw a rise of 6.8 per cent to Rs 1,490 crore in 2024-25 from Rs 1,394 crore in 2023-24. Lakshadweep was in the news last month due to a diplomatic row between India and Maldives. Among the UTs, Jammu and Kashmir saw the maximum allocation of Rs 37,277 crore, 4.7 per cent higher than previous year’s allocation of Rs 35,581 crore.

Ladakh’s allocation was also kept the same as last year’s at Rs 5,958 crore, while Chandigarh witnessed a healthy jump of 7.8 per cent in allocation at Rs 5,862 crore, from Rs 5,436 crore.