The Finance Department is gearing up to prepare the State annual budget for the financial year 2021-22. The exercise is likely to commence in the first week of January 2021.
According to information, the officials will collect the department-wise proposals and discuss the same with the respective heads of departments. Later, Finance Minister B. Rajendranath Reddy will hold discussions with the Ministers concerned.
Finally, the Finance Minister will apprise Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy about the proposals received from each department.
This year too, the lion’s share of budget may be allocated to welfare as the government has been laying thrust on implementing the Navaratnalu schemes.
In its first budget in 2019, the YSRCP government had focussed on the Navaratnalu — the nine welfare schemes covering farmers, women, medical and health, education, and Special Category Status (SCS), and had allocated ₹2.27 lakh crore for the purpose.
In 2020, the government had presented the budget with a total outlay of ₹2.24 lakh crore, which was 1.40% less than the previous year’s outlay.
