Saini government sets aside Rs 5K crore in Budget for Lado Yojana-OxBig News Network

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini presented a Rs 2.05 lakh crore Budget with focus on education, health, industry and agriculture. Saini announced setting aside Rs 5,000 crore for ‘Lado Lakshmi Yojana’ while pledging to tackle drug abuse and promote sports and culture. No new taxes have been imposed.

Highlighting his proposals in his maiden Budget address in the Vidhan Sabha here today, he said the Budget envisaged an outlay of Rs 2,05,017.29 crore for 2025-26, up 13.70 per cent from revised estimates of 2024-25. Haryana’s debt liability is likely to cross Rs 3.50 lakh crore in 2025-26.

The state is targeting to bring down fiscal deficit to 2.67 per cent of the state’s GDP. The revenue deficit would be Rs 20,600 crore and the total expenditure has been projected to increase to Rs 1,69,228.50 crore compared to Rs 1,46,569.39 crore in 2024-25.

Saini began his nearly three-hour long speech, peppered with mantras and poetry, by unveiling key announcements on tackling drugs, dealing with challenges for economic development, creation of a fund for start-ups, and introduction of a new Bill to deal with the lure of the ‘donkey route’.

“The main proposals close to my heart are making basic medical facilities available at all district hospitals, increasing the number of model schools and incentivising meritorious students, developing industrial townships and facilitating farmers,” he said later at a press conference.

Stating that the health allocation had been increased, he said the government, after upgrading three district hospitals this year, intended to make the district hospitals the best over the next two years.

On the education front, the CM proposed model Sanskriti schools across the state, Kalpana Chawla scholarship, introduction of a third language in the curriculum and holding Maths Olympiad for Class X and XII students among others projects.

Stating that the government was taking a leaf out of former CM Manohar Lal Khattar’s initiative of regularising unauthorised colonies, Saini said the government would regularise the industry on similar lines.

Proposing Rs 5,000 crore for Rs 2,100 monthly assistance to women under ‘Lado Lakshmi Yojana’ for 2025-26, as committed in the election manifesto, the CM was non-committal on when it would be rolled out. “It will begin soon. The department will formulate the criteria and verification will be carried out before we begin the scheme,” he said.

To check sale of fake seeds and pesticides, the government will bring in a Bill while the CM also proposed to set up a Horticulture Research Centre in Palwal and flower market in Gurugram.

For sportspersons, Saini proposed to bring ‘Khiladi Bima Yojana’ under which medal winners at the national level and players participating in international-level competitions will get medical coverage of up to Rs 20 lakh. He said sports excellence centres would be opened in five universities of the state.

Aiming for at least 36 medals in Olympics 2036, the CM proposed the rolling out of the “Mission Olympics 2036 Vijayi Bhava” for which Rs 20 crore provision would be made.