Delhi’s welfare push, but gaps remain

The political orientation of the Delhi government’s FY25 Budget doesn’t surprise much, given this is an election year and the Budget is the last full Budget before the assembly elections next year. Finance minister Atishi’s invocation of “Ram Rajya” as a compass for the budget was meant to underscore its welfarist push and appeal to the majority community. Consolidating sway over women voters seems high on the AAP government’s agenda. After free bus travel, women in Delhi with incomes below the taxable level will now get a monthly cash support of ₹ 1,000. At five million, the estimated pool of beneficiaries is a significantly large cache of electoral influence.

Although Budget FY25 is slightly contractionary (at ₹ 76,000 crore compared with ₹ 78,800 crore in FY24), the party’s focus on education, health, and utilities — tested at the hustings for over a decade now — remains the centrepiece of its expenditure plans. To be sure, the allocations for education and health have been trimmed from those made for the current fiscal. But the fact is, education continues to be the chunkiest spend of the Delhi government, and with good reason. The marked jump in the allocation for water and sanitation, given the free water scheme for low-consumption households, ties in well with the Budget’s push for civic infrastructure in unauthorised colonies.

Still, there is room for improvement. It is surprising that the environment didn’t receive as much attention as merited. The sharply lower allocation for transport, compared with the FY24 revised estimates, is also baffling. With increasing urbanisation pressure, the need was to step up investment in green transport solutions. These are critical areas that need fixing.