AAP Govt presents Rs 46,600 crore Delhi Budget for 2016-17; highlights

The Aam Aadmi Party government, headed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, presented the Delhi budget for the year 2016-17 Monday. The annual budget outlay was pegged at Rs 46,600 crore, an increase of Rs 8,850 crore from the previous year.

Delhi Finance Minister and deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, who presented the budget said that the planned expenditure has been set at Rs 20,600 crore, whereas the non-planned expenditure was set at Rs 26,000 crore, IANS reported. 

In the previous year, the government expenditure estimate was Rs 37,750 crore.

"About 95 percent of the budget will be from our own resources, and only five percent will be provided by the central government. Of the total budget, Rs 36,500 crore will come from the taxes collected," Sisodia said. 

Education in focus

Of the total budget, Rs 10,690 crore has been set aside for the education sector. The AAP government has promised to make government schools better. Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, plans to get CCTV installed in every classroom and Rs 100 crore has been set aside for this scheme.

Over the next three years, the government plans to make government schools better than private schools, IANS added. In addition, he said the process of appointing the teachers, is in its final stages.

"The major focus for this year is on the training and capacity building of teachers. They are to be imparted high quality training for the professional development and will be sent to some of the best universities like Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford. For this, Rs 102 crore has been earmarked in 2016-17 as against Rs 9.4 crore in 2015-16," Sisodia told the agency.

Other highlights of the Delhi Budget (via Mint, IANS)

• Rs 10,000 crore for civic bodies.
• Delhi government plans local safety groups, Rs 1,000 crore set aside for women empowerment.
• Hikes health scheme, 10,000 new beds in hospital.
• Rs 1,735 allocated for Delhi's transport sector.
• Value added tax on certain essential items reduced to 5 percent from 12.5 percent.
• Government plans to build new depots, earmarks Rs 1,735 crore for 3,000 new buses.
• Rs 676 crore allocated for providing drinking water facility in every colony by December 2017.
• Rs 763 crore given for Delhi metro.
• AAP government allocates Rs 300 crore for development of unauthorized colonies.
• Rs 10 crore set aside to establish "Aam Aadmi Canteens" across Delhi.
• Delhi to get two BRT corridors.

The annual budget has been prepared in a bid to reduce the common man's burden. In its election manifesto, the AAP had promised to streamline Delhi's tax structure. Last year, the government collected Rs 20,000 crore in tax through the VAT collections, International Business Times India reported.

[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]