The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government  presented its fifth Budget of the current term on Tuesday. The Budget estimates pegged it  a Rs60,000 crore Budget for 2019-20. The Budget presented by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, laid emphasis on the education, health and transport sectors. Sisodia who holds the Finance portfolio said, “It is two times more than the first budget presented by it in 2014-15.

The annual financial budget is 13.21 per cent higher than the budget estimates of Rs53,000 crore and 19.52 per cent over revised estimate of Rs50,200 crore in previous financial budget 2018-19. Importantly, the proposed budget is almost double the total expenditure of Rs30,940 in 2014 -15. 

The Gross State Domestic Product of Delhi is likely to increase to increase to Rs7,79,652 crore in 2018-19 from Rs6,90,098 crore in 2017-18, hence indicating a growth of 13 per cent.

As per the Budget report, the contribution of Delhi to the national GDP also increased from 3.97 per cent in 2014 -15 to 4.14 per cent in 2018-19 though we are only 1.4 per cent of the total population, the budget report said.

Laying papers in Delhi Assembly while presenting Arvind Kejriwal’s last budget, Sisodia said the budget is dedicated to soldiers martyred in the recent Pulwama attack.

Earlier, the house proceedings began with a standing ovation to the Indian Air Force which carried out pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps inside Pakistani territory.  “I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet.

“The budget estimates for 2019-20 have been pegged at Rs60,000 crore which is two times more than the budget presented in 2014-15,” Sisodia said.

“At constant prices, Delhi’s economy is expected to grow at the rate of 8.61 per cent in 2018-19 whereas the all India growth rate is 7.2 per cent. The annual average growth of GSDP in last four years remains at 8.92 per cent which exhibits strong economic fundamentals of Delhi’s economy”, he said.

“The per capita income of Rs3,28,985 in 2017-18. The per capita income of Delhi in 2018-19 is about three times higher than the per capita income of Rs1,25,397 at national level”, the budget projections stated.    

This year also, Sisodia, who holds important Education portfolio too, said that education and health is primary focus of the AAP Government. This year also, Education sector has got the highest share of allocation of Rs15,601, 26 per cent of the total expenditure, which is the 26 percent of the entire budget, adding “A new University of Applied Science, Tablets to students , MBA in Family Business are the new programmes under the schemes planned by the Delhi government,” said Sisodia.

It may be noted that AAP Government had distributed tablets to teachers, however, this is the first time when the Government will give tablets to Senior secondary school students under “Pratibha”.

AAP government has allocated Rs7485 for Health, this includes revenue budget of Rs6462 crore and capital budget of Rs1023.

“Along  with  education,  good  healthcare  is  also  needed  by  the  citizens  of  Delhi.  We had promised in our Manifesto that the Government would ensure the availability of medicines in the Government hospitals of Delhi, provide beds for the patients, and provide doctors,” said Sisodia  

 With allocating enormous amount , the Government has claimed to augment the total bed strength of city hospitals from 10000 to 20000.

Rs16,000 crore has been proposed for the development works in unauthorized colonies and Rs100 crore for improvements in ground water various rejuvenation projects.

Sisodia also announced an allocation of Rs100 crore for providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission while asserting  that Delhi is the first state to implement the Commission’s report on farming sector.

“For providing 1.5 times of MSP to farmers of Delhi, as per Swaminathan Commission report, the 2019-20 budget allocates Rs100 crore,” he said.

The deputy Chief Minister said the free wifi project of AAP Government would start in the next financial year.

The AAP claimed that the budget of 2014-15 was Rs30,940 crore while last year a budget of Rs53,000 crore was presented.