Budget 2024 pushes for rural development
The government focuses on empowering tribal communities, urban poor and street vendors through various schemes in the budget.
During her Budget speech on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 2.66 lakh crore for rural development, including rural infrastructure.
The FM laid out nine priorities for the Union Budget 2024-25. This included agriculture, employment, human development and social justice, energy security, manufacturing, innovation, infrastructure and next-generation reforms.
Listing out the schemes for human development and social justice, she launched the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan. The scheme aims to improve the socio-economic condition of tribal communities.
“The scheme will adopt saturation coverage for tribal families in tribal-majority villages and aspirational districts. This will cover 63,000 villages benefitting five crore tribal people,” the FM said in the Budget speech.
Prashant Kumar a social activist creating climate-resilient housing and livelihood opportunities for marginalised communities supports the scheme.
“The initiative can significantly benefit tribal communities if its impact is evident on the ground. It's crucial to focus on creating livelihood opportunities and ensuring that their skills and craftsmanship are preserved and promoted,” he tells SocialStory.
Adding to this, Bela Bhatia, a human-rights lawyer and activist working in the District courts of Bastar division emphasises that "Bastar has been a conflict area for nearly two decades now. The government should first and foremost focus on identifying and addressing the root causes of the conflict and addressing them. Otherwise, in such an environment where instances of violence are a daily occurrence and basic survival has become a challenge, initiatives aimed at improving living conditions and opportunities though well-meaning are quite impossible to implement."
Additionally, to foster rural development, the government will be opening more than 100 branches of India Post Payments Bank in the North East region, expanding their banking services.
The Finance Minister also emphasised the implementation of schemes for supporting economic activities by craftsmen, artisans, self-help groups, scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and women entrepreneurs, to be stepped up.
Applauding the effort, Meera Ramakrishnan, Director and Co-founder of Zishta, a social enterprise, says, “The allocation of Rs 2.66 lakh crore for rural development is a significant step towards empowering our artisans and craftsmen.”
Other schemes
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, the government said it will add three crore more houses in rural and urban areas, for which it will make the necessary allocation. For urban housing, under the PM Awas Yojana-Urban 2.0, the government will provide housing to one crore urban poor and middle-class families.
“This will be addressed with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore. It includes central assistance of 2.2 lakh crore in the next five years,” the FM said.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is the flagship Mission of the Government of India and is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). It was launched on June 25, 2015.
The outlay for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY)-Urban for 2024-2025 is estimated at Rs 30,171 crore.
In line with the interim budget, the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana was launched to install rooftop solar plants to enable one crore households obtain free electricity up to 300 units every month.
“The scheme has generated a remarkable response with more than 1.28 crore registrations and 14 lakh applications, and we will further encourage it,” the FM said.
The government will also launch a scheme to support the development of 100 weekly 'haats' or street food hubs in select cities each year for the next five years.
“The focus on developing 100 weekly haats is also commendable, as it will create new opportunities for artisans to showcase their products to a wider audience. Schemes like PM Swanidhi and MGNREGA have already proven effective in uplifting rural communities, and we believe that the government's continued commitment to these initiatives will lead to a brighter future for India’s artisans,” Ramakrishnan shares.
“We are confident that these measures will not only revitalize rural economies but also contribute to preserving and promoting our rich cultural heritage,” she adds.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti
