Agencies: As usual, the Union Budget presented in Parliament on Friday shows the government spending Rs 51,000 crore more than its total revenue.
The budget documents attached to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shows that the government’s estimated expenditure in the full financial year of 2019-20 will be Rs 27.86 lakh crore as against its gross revenue of Rs 27.35 lakh crore.
The government will be actually spending more than Rs 3 lakh crore over and above its budget in the previous year. In the previous year of 2018-19, the revised estimates show the expenditure of Rs 24.57 lakh crore as against tghe revenue of Rs 24.16 lakh crore.
The highest expenditure in the current year will be of Rs 1,51,000 crore on the national food subsidy, followed by Rs 82,571 crore on highways and roads.
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, announced before the elections to benefit the farmers, will cost the exchequer Rs 75,000 while other major expenditure of Rs 79,996 crore is on urea and nutrient based fertilser subsidy.
The finance minister has estimated to spend Rs 60,000 crore on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme as against Rs 61,084 crore spent in the previous year.
In contrast, the government will be spending much less on health, education, housing, the direct benefit transfer (DBT) and PM Gram Sadak Yojana with the provisions of Rs 33,651 crore, Rs 38,547 crore, Rs 25,853 crore, Rs 29,500 crore and Rs 19,000 crore respectively.
