|HT|
Madhya Pradesh finance minister Jagdish Devda on Wednesday presented a ₹2,79,237 crore Budget focused on infrastructure development, employment generation, and self-reliant India concept amid Opposition Congress’s protests. He announced ₹370 crore allocation for a statue of Adi Shankaracharya, an eighth-century spiritual leader who consolidated the Advaita Vedanta doctrine and contributed to the unification of Hinduism by setting up four monastic institutions across India. Devda said a new scheme will be launched for cow protection and welfare.
Devda said no new taxes will be imposed and announced a special allocation for people aged up to 18. “Tribal Development Corporation will be constituted to provide new job opportunities to tribals. Similarly, a provision of ₹40 crore has been made for Scheduled Caste Finance Development Corporation and ₹50 crore for Other Backward Classes.”
He added two new industrial parks will be set up in Bhopal apart from solar plants in Sagar, Ujjain, and Shajapur to promote green energy. “To promote electric vehicles, 217 charging stations will be set up in Bhopal, Indore, and Jabalpur,” he said. Devda said the government is working for the welfare of its employees and that the dearness allowance for 750,000 of them has been increased from 20 to 31%. He added the government will promote organic farming through a new scheme and storage facilities for about 1 lakh MT of horticulture produce will be developed.
Opposition Congress leaders earlier staged a protest in the Well of the assembly before Devda’s speech. During the 100-minute speech, they raised issues such as rising unemployment, SC/ST, OBC scholarship, atrocities against them, the Narmada river conservation, etc.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)