“On the expenditure side, total expenditure has been cut by Rs 1,04,025 crore and capital expenditure by Rs 92,682 crore. Of this cut, the sectors that have suffered the most, and the amounts cut, are — health: Rs 1,255 crore, education: Rs 11,584 crore, social welfare: Rs 10,019 crore, agriculture: Rs 10,992 crore, rural development: Rs 75,133 crore, urban development: Rs 18,907 crore, development of the northeast: Rs 1,894 crore,” Chidambaram said.He said the cruellest cuts were in the allocations for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and minorities.He cited the examples of the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana, Prime Minister Young Achievers Scholarship for OBC, EBC, DNTs, Post Matric Scholarship for SCs and Programme for Development of STs.He urged people to look at the Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates for 2024-25 and the proposed Budget Estimates for 2025-26 for certain schemes.”The government has lost faith in these programmes announced with fanfare in the previous budget speeches and the government’s capacity has significantly diminished. Examples are POSHAN, Jal Jeevan Mission, NSAP, PMGSY, Crop Insurance Scheme, Urea Subsidy and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana,” Chidambaram said.He claimed that the railways has been shortchanged.”If you examine the railways’ specific heads of expenditure, you will find that the BE 2024-25 was Rs 2,06,961 crore while the RE 2024-25 is Rs 2,12,786 crore, and the BE 2025-26 is Rs 2,13,552 crore.”The railways serves the overwhelming majority of the population. The increase of a paltry Rs 766 crore in 2025-26 will not even account for the inflation. The allocation will be less than last year’s allocation,” the former finance minister said.”On the much-vaunted PLI schemes plus the New Employment Generation Scheme plus the Skill India programme that were promised to create thousands of jobs, the youngsters of this country have been cheated. Against a BE 2024-25 of Rs 26,018 crore, the actual expenditure will be only Rs 15,286 crore,” Chidambaram said.
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