Bhubaneswar: Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari is scheduled to present the state’s annual Budget for 2023-24 fiscal on Friday. Expectations will be certainly high from the Budget which will be the last full-fledged Budget in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s fifth term.
The focus of the Budget is likely to be on food security and health. A substantial portion of the Budget may go towards funding the state’s premier health assurance programme, such as the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), which Odisha launched in place of the Union government’s Ayushman Bharat and is regarded as a critical election-related decision.
The Budget is likely to emphasise infrastructure and social security this time. In addition, the focus is also likely to be on agriculture, education, health, rural development, sports, Mission Shakti, employment generation and others.
On February 14, the Odisha Council of Ministers approved the annual Budget of Rs 2.3 lakh crore for 2023-24 for the state. The Budget will be the highest ever in Odisha. The government had presented a Budget of Rs 2 lakh crore for 2022-23. The increase in the Budget proposals for 2023-24 will be about 15 per cent.
