New Delhi, Jul 30: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday approved the Budget for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for 2024-25.
The Budget for J&K and relevant appropriation bills were passed by a voice vote.
Replying to the debate on the general budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the fiscal deficit of the central government is proposed to be brought down to 4.9 per cent of the GDP during 2024-25 and further to below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26.
Meanwhile Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday termed misleading claims by opposition leaders that if any state is not named in the Budget speech, then it does not get any budgetary allocation.
Replying to a Budget discussion in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman asserted that no state was being denied money.
She recalled that in the past Budgets by the UPA government also did not mention names of all states in their Budget speech.
“I have been picking up on Budget speeches since 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and so on. The Budget of 2004-2005 did not take the name of 17 states. I would like to ask the members of the UPA government at that time – did money not go to those 17 states? Did they stop it?” Sitharaman said.
She was responding to comments by several opposition members that the Budget has provided funds only to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and nothing to other states.
Sitharaman said India is the fastest-growing economy globally and has overcome the after-effects of the pandemic due to heavy capex push.
She also said the government is complying with the fiscal deficit trajectory. It will bring down the deficit to below 4.5 per cent by 2025-26 from the targeted 4.9 per cent for the current fiscal. The deficit was 5.6 per cent in 2023-24.
The Budget has provided substantial financial support of Rs 17,000 crore to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir this year. It includes Rs 12,000 crore towards financing the cost of J&K police.
“That’s the burden we want to take on our shoulders,” Sitharaman said.

KR Desk