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Maharashtra: Budget gives a leg-up to backwards & minorities

In a clear bid to woo traditional Congress voters, the BJP-led government in the state has gone overboard in its maiden budget with a major allocation to the social sector that covers minorities, schedule castes/schedule tribes and those below poverty line.

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In a clear bid to woo traditional Congress voters, the BJP-led government in the state has gone overboard in its maiden budget with a major allocation to the social sector that covers minorities, schedule castes/schedule tribes and those below poverty line. As per the highlights of the budget, presented in the Assembly on Wednesday, the sector that covers minorities, special assistance and tribal development has been allocated a share of Rs 13,261 crore, which appears to be much more than the allocation to sectors like agriculture, irrigation or infrastructure.

The pie chart of a rupee describing the allocation also shows highest allocation of 34.95% to the social services, followed by general services at 18.11% and economic services at 16.80%. Social services, however, also cover heath and education sectors.

The major announcements made by the government under the social sector includes a special component plan worth Rs 6,490 crore for scheduled castes and another tribal sub plan of Rs 5,170 crore. The both put together exceed the allocation made to sectors like agriculture, industry or irrigation. The social services sector also includes a share capital contribution of Rs 150 crore to the Maulana Azad Alpasankhyank Vikas Mahamandal, something that found a special mention in the finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar's budget speech. The budget has also announced an allocation of Rs 1451.50 crore as special assistance to BPL families.

This point, however, was made clear by the finance minister in his opening speech itself. "The budget aims at giving relief to the weaker sections of the society. The physically-challenged, weaker sections, the dalits, tribals, farmers, labourers and minorities should feel that the government cares for them," said Mungantiwar.

BJP Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelhar, however, said the budget should not be politicised and it only aims at following the Constitution that believes in 'equality'.

Congress spokesperson Ratnakar Mahajan, however, tried to counter it saying that the law mandates that the government allocate 11 percent for SCs and 9% for STs. "The present government is simply following schemes initiated by the Congress under different names," said Mahajan. However, when asked that this in itself means that the budget is focused on Congress voters, Mahajan said, "Yes, they may be attempting it, but only time will tell how much they will succeed."

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