Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech on March 16 said 2012 will be the year for Horticulture. One would assume that Agriculture would thus be a sector with high budgetary allocations. Actually, it does not figure in the top 10.
IndiaSpend’s Danielle Collaco used the opportunity to list the sectors with the highest outlays in Budget 2012 and comes away with some surprises. The Finance Minister allocated Rs 14,90,925 crore towards the expected expenditure of the nation for 2012-13. The Finance Ministry received the highest allocation, with the centre setting aside Rs 5,55,055 crore as expenditure for 2012-13. The table below shows the 10 Ministries with the highest allocation and their figures over the last two years.
| Ranking | Sector | 2010-11 Actual Expenditure(in Rs cr) | 2011-12 (BE) (in Rs cr) | 2011-12 (RE) (in Rs cr) | 2012-13 (BE) (in Rs cr) |
| 1 | Ministry of Finance | 4,23,655.31 | 4,64,767.13 | 4,62,395.33 | 5,55,055 |
| 2 | Ministry of Defence | 1,94,605.8 | 2,02,572.3 | 2,09,209.65 | 2,38,205.53 |
| 3 | Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution | 71,471.82 | 62,186.57 | 74,299.15 | 76,869.45 |
| 4 | Ministry of Rural Development | 74,727.22 | 76,849.92 | 69,615.32 | 76,430.02 |
| 5 | Ministry of Human Resource Development | 51,904.29 | 63,363 | 61,365 | 74,056 |
| 6 | Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers | 63,424.91 | 51,280 | 69,703.5 | 63,289.71 |
| 7 | Ministry of Home Affairs | 41,111.96 | 48,920.14 | 47,681.61 | 54,448.99 |
| 8 | Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas | 38,537.09 | 23,716.2 | 70,140.06 | 43,759.85 |
| 9 | Ministry of Health & Family Welfare | 24,449.94 | 30,456 | 28,353.06 | 34,488 |
| 10 | Ministry of Road Transport & Highways | 24,385.19 | 26,437.75 | 26,649.82 | 30,798.12 |
| 11 | Ministry of Agriculture | 23819.12 | 24176.72 | 23294.76 | 27,931.59 |
Source:
Union Budget 2012-13 Yes, we know we said we were showing you the top ten and we showed you eleven instead. Agriculture is actually 11. The Government has allocated Rs 27,931 crores to the Ministry of Agriculture. This is an increase of about Rs 3754.87 crores from last year’s budget. However, it is an increase of Rs 4636.83 crores from the revised estimates of last year. The Budget has allocated
Rs 9,217 crores for the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. About Rs 1,850 crore has been set aside for the National Food Security Mission. The National Horticulture Mission has been allotted Rs 1,350 crore.
Finance Ministry Gets Rs 5,55,055 Crores The Finance Ministry has got the highest allocation, with the Government setting aside Rs 5,55,055 crore for the coming year. Of this sum,
Rs 14,588 crore will be used for the recapitalization of Public Sector Banks and Rs 200 crores will be pumped into Regional Rural Banks. About Rs 500 crores will be channeled towards boosting the capital of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). India Infrastructure Finance Corporation Ltd (IIFCL) will receive equity support of
Rs 400 crores to increase its paid up capital.
Beefing Up Defence The country’s plans to beef up security has made Defence the Ministry get the second highest allocation of Rs 2,38,205.53 crores. Last year’s Budget had allocated Rs 2,02,572.3 crore for defence. The Revised Estimates of last year’s budget show that Rs 2,09,209.65 crore was allocated to the Ministry. The Defence allocation is actually divided into two heads namely; Defence services (Rs 1,93,407.29 crores) and Defence Civil Estimates (Rs 44,798.24 crores). The Defence Civil Estimates comprises of allocation towards pensions and allocation towards the daily running of the Ministry of Defence. The government has allocated
Rs 78,114.36 crores for the Army,
Rs 12548.02 crore for the Navy and
Rs 17705.81 crores for the Air Force. Interestingly, the government has allocated
Rs 39,000 crores towards Defence Pensions. The increase in budgetary allocation would be expected to fund new acquisitions of weapons, warplanes, warships and equipment.
Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Ranks 3rd The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution received Rs 76,869.45 crores from the Budget, which is almost Rs 14,683 crores higher than what was allocated to it last year. The Department of Consumer Affairs has an allocation of
Rs 602.29 crores while the Department of Food and Public Distribution will receive an amount of
Rs 76,267.16 crores.
HRD Allocation Hiked The allocation to the Ministry of Human Resource Development was also hiked to Rs 74,056 crores. This is about Rs 10,693 crores more than what was allocated to the HRD Ministry in 2011-12 and about Rs 12,691 crores more than the 2011-12 revised estimates. The Department of School Education and Literacy has received an allocation of
Rs 48,781 crores. The allocation for Sarva Shikha Abhiyan has been increased to Rs 25,555 crores. About Rs 11,937 crores has been set aside for the Mid Day Meal Scheme. About
Rs 25,275 crores has been allotted to the Department of higher Education. The government has plans of setting up 6,000 new schools in 2012-13 with an estimated budget of Rs 1080 crores.
Petroleum Allocation Slashed From Revised Estimates Another interesting fact to note is that, at a first glance it looks like the allocation to the Petroleum Ministry has almost doubled from last year’s Budget of Rs 23,716.2 cr to Rs
43,759.85 cr. However a closer look at the Revised Estimates of 2011-12 shows that the allocation has actually been slashed, from Rs 70,140.06 cr to Rs 43,759.85 cr. The revised estimates for 2011-12 have gone up because the government had to pay an additional Rs 45,000 crore as compensation to OMCs for under-recoveries.
Allocation to Health Hiked The Health Ministry has received Rs 34,488 crores from the 2012-13 Budget. The allocation for the National Rural Health Mission has gone up by Rs 2,374 crore (about 14%) from last year to
Rs 18,515 crore. About Rs 280 crores of the Rs 18,515 crores will be used for the NRHM development of AYUSH hospitals and dispensaries and for the mainstreaming of AYUSH.
Roads Get Rs 30,798 Crore The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways received
Rs 30,798.12 crore in the 2012-13 Budget. Rs 11,472 crore will be invested in the National Highways Authority of India, Rs 1,500 crore will be invested in a Special programme for the development of road connectivity in Naxal Affected areas. The Finance Minister has also stated that 8800 kilometres of roads are expected to be completed under NHDP in 2012-13.
Budget Trivia We thought that the following allocations would be a bit interesting too. The Department of Space will receive
Rs 5,615 crores for 2012-13. An amount of Rs 2946.83 crores has been allocated to Atomic Energy Research. The Department of Science and Technology has received Rs 2,477 crores for the year 2012-13. The Government has allocated Rs 5238 crores to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. However, under the head of ‘Investment in Public Enterprises’, the government plans to invest Rs 4,928 crores into debt ridden Air India.