A new burden of 500 crore ‘Rakhi’ on the empty treasury of MP!
Sanjeev Srivastave, Bhopal August 1,2024
The ‘Rakhi’ of Mohan Yadav government of Madhya Pradesh has brought a big burden on the dilapidated treasury of the state. The ‘Rakhi gifts’ alone will add a new burden of about 500 crores from the announcements made by the government to please the sisters.
The Mohan Yadav government has made many announcements to please the ‘sisters’ on the occasion of Rakhi. Among all the announcements, the announcement of giving Rs 250 cash to each Ladli sister to celebrate Rakhi and giving gas cylinder for Rs 450 is prominent. Let us tell you that just before the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, the then Shivraj government had brought the ‘Laadli Behna’ scheme. Under the scheme, Rs 1 thousand per month was started to be given. Later this amount was increased to Rs 1250 per month.
There are 1.29 crore Ladli sisters in the state, to whom the BJP government is giving this amount even after Mohan Yadav became the Chief Minister. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav took the decision to give Rs 250 to celebrate Rakhi in the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Tomorrow, on August 1, the Chief Minister will transfer the ‘cash Rakhi gift’ amount to the accounts of Ladli sisters getting the benefit of the scheme through a single click. The government has clarified that Rs 250 will be in addition to the regular Rs 1250.
At the rate of Rs 250 per sister as Rakhi gift, a total burden of Rs 323 crore will fall on the state treasury for 1.29 crore sisters. Apart from this, a provision of Rs 160 crore has been made to compensate for the gas cylinder subsidy amount. The Mohan Yadav government has also announced to pay the premium of Rs 2 lakh insurance coverage to 97 thousand Anganwadi workers from the government treasury and to give a benefit of Rs 1370 and Rs 1372 respectively for Ujjwala and non-Ujjwala scheme.
Burden of 19 thousand crores
The government of Madhya Pradesh has been giving the benefit of the scheme to Ladli Bahinis for the past one year. In the past one year (first at the rate of 1 thousand and then 1250 per month), the state treasury has incurred a burden of around 19 thousand crores.
The Mohan Yadav government has said that it will continue to provide cylinders for 450 rupees. That is, if the government gives one cylinder to the beneficiary in two months, then the burden of 960 crores will come on the treasury in a year.
New debt of 88 thousand 450 crores
The government of Madhya Pradesh currently has a debt of around 4 lakh crores. The rapid pace at which the government is taking loans for daily expenses as well as distributing ‘rewadis’ will increase to 4.38 lakh crores on 31 March 2025. This debt is going to be more than the budget of the current financial year of the government.
The government of Madhya Pradesh had taken a loan of 55 thousand 708 crores in the last financial year. This year the government is taking a loan of 88 thousand 450 crore rupees. This is 38 percent more than the last financial year.
Scissors used on 125 schemes
The Mohan Yadav government is manipulating and cutting budget items to please the sisters. It has come to light that due to the manipulation and order in the budget, 125 schemes of 47 departments have been put on hold. The schemes which have been put on hold also include Shivraj government’s flagship scheme Ladli Laxmi. The state government has issued an order not to withdraw funds of many items of the health and agriculture departments without the prior approval of the finance department.
Cut in budget for temples and cows
The state government has cut the budget of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe department for half a dozen temples and monuments under construction in Madhya Pradesh and for fodder for cows.
The NGOs of MP fighting for the SC-ST class are angry. They have opposed this.
