P. Chidambaram welcomed the General Budget for 2010-11

Feb 28, 2010

The Union Home Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram has welcomed
 the General Budget for  2010-11 presented in Parliament
on friday.


 In a statement  issued here today,
 he described the budget  as a very balanced effort .

 Following is the text of the statement.

“The Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget for
2010-11 is a very balanced effort marked by a mature
assessment of the state of the economy and of the
 measures required to sustain high and inclusive growth.

While the many features of the Budget will be debated
in and outside Parliament, I would like to draw attention
to some noteworthy aspects pertaining to the Ministry
 of Home Affairs:

For police, a sum of Rs.30,000 crore has been provided under
 Revenue and Capital account.  This is about the same level
as the expenditure that will be actually incurred in 2009-10 and,
 wisely spent, should be able to cater to the needs of security.

Of the above, assistance to States for modernisation of
 police force has been pegged at Rs.1,975 crore, a modest
increase of Rs.130 crore over the actual expenditure that
 will be incurred in 2009-10. However, I am confident that,
 if necessary, we can find additional resources through
re-appropriation or through supplementaries.

Delhi Police has been provided Rs.2,805 crore, the same
level as the estimated actual expenditure in 2009-10.

Construction of housing for the Central Police Forces
has been given Rs.444 crore and we should be able to
leverage this amount through the proposed PPP model
 and build a large number of housing units.

Immigration services have been provided Rs.155 crore
and the bulk of this provision (Rs.140 crore) will be
spent on setting up Integrated Check Posts.

The ambitious Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and
System (CCTNS) has received a generous provision of Rs.175 crore.

At my request, the Finance Minister has made a reference
 to the proposal belonging to J&K to the Central Para Military
 Forces in the year 2010.  These youth will be recruited
by CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB and CISF.

On the other aspects of the Budget, I would like to
commend the Finance Minister for the generous allocation
to the flagship and other key programmes such as
 NREGS (Rs.40,000 crore), Indira Awaz Yojana (Rs.10,000 crore),
the Rural Roads Programme (Rs.12,000 crore), Rural Drinking Water
 Programme (Rs.9,000 crore), Agriculture and related
activities (Rs.6,515 crore), Agricultural Research (Rs.2,300 crore),
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Rs.15,000 crore), Mid-day Meal Scheme (Rs.9,440 crore),
 Higher Education (Rs.10,000 crore), Women and Child Development (Rs.10,000 crore),
Roads (Rs.16,700 crore) and Power (Rs.9,200 crore).  The centre piece of the Budget
is obviously the aam aadmi.  The thrust of the Budget is towards provision of
infrastructure and social services in rural India.

The underpinning of a Budget lies in fiscal consolidation.
 The worst may be over and the Finance Minister has signalled
that beginning 2010-11 we will move in the direction of
reducing the fiscal deficit and revenue deficit.
 While these two indicators will remain high in 2010-11
(5.5 per cent and 4.0 per cent respectively),
 I am confident that we would be able to adhere to the road map
laid down by the Thirteenth Finance Commission.