Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the final budget of the second term of the Modi government on February 1 next year. The ministry has started preparations for this. According to the reports, in the budget of the financial year 2023-24, the expenditure on welfare programs running in rural areas can be increased by 50% to Rs 2 lakh crore. The increased amount will be used to overcome the slowdown in the rural economy in the wake of the Corona pandemic. The government had allocated Rs 1.36 lakh crore to the Ministry of Rural Development for the current financial year. However, this expenditure may increase to more than Rs 1.60 lakh crore.
Before the likely Lok Sabha elections in the month of April-May 2024, the central government is not only focused on increasing employment, but it is also focusing on promoting the affordable housing scheme. Expenditure-budget both increased, but unemployment rate 8.04%.
After Corona, there was an increase in the number of people getting employment through MNREGA in the villages. The unemployment rate remained above 7% in the current financial year. It is at 8.04% in November. A budget of Rs 73 thousand crore was kept for MNREGA this year. Later it had to be increased to 98 thousand crores.
Economist SC Gulati says that after the next budget, the government has to face the general elections of 2024. It is expected that the focus will be on increasing employment in the budget. For this, expenditure on infrastructure, small and medium industries and banking sector can be increased. With the increase in investment in these three sectors, the economy will not only gain momentum, but also the employment opportunities will also increase. Apart from this, the government will increase the expenditure in the agriculture sector, so that rural demand can be increased.
