Gandhinagar: The Finance Minister of Gujarat, Kanubhai Desai, presented the budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 in the state assembly today in the state capital. During his budget speech, the Finance Minister made announcements about several new schemes.

Here are the announcements made by the Finance Minister, including the Suposhit Gujarat Mission, Namo Lakshmi Yojana, Namo Shri Scheme, Namo Saraswati Scheme, cyclotron project at Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute in Ahmedabad, Mission Schools of Excellence 2.0, Nirmal Gujarat Abhiyan 2.0 and Jan Rakshak Scheme.

Announcing the Suposhit Gujarat Mission, the minister said, ” To ensure good health, it is essential that every person especially women and children receive age appropriate nutrition at every stage of life beginning from childhood. Therefore, I announce the Suposhit Gujarat Mission to provide adequate nutrition to our citizens and ensure a healthy future generation. Children, adolescent girls and women are key to ensuring good outcomes and therefore the mission will incorporate various schemes on nutrition to target these sections. Under the Mission, the numbers of beneficiaries will be increased under various schemes and the assistance provided to beneficiaries will also be enhanced, and new schemes will be launched whenever required.”

Then the minister announced Namo Lakshmi Yojana and said,” Adolescent girls of the current generation will be equal partners in the march towards Viksit Gujarat @2047. As mothers of the future generations of citizens, adolescent girls have an important role to play in the advancement of an educated and healthy society.  To ensure the provision of adequate and qualitative nutrition, health services and education to girls, I propose the Namo Lakshmi Yojana. Under this scheme, girls will get ₹10,000 annually while studying in classes 9 and 10 and ₹15,000 annually while studying in classes 11 and 12. In effect, adolescent girls studying in government granted and private schools from classes 9 to 12, will be given ₹50,000 over the four years of their education. The main aims of this scheme are to increase enrolment, to reduce dropouts and also to improve the nutritional status of these adolescent girls. Moreover, with the implementation of this scheme, the state will be able to achieve universal enrolment in secondary education just as the state has achieved universal enrolment in primary education. For this scheme, I propose a provision for ₹1250 crore for the year 2024-25.”

Announcing Namo Shri Scheme the minister said, “To further strengthen nutrition and consequently, the health of pregnant and lactating mothers, I hereby propose the Namo Shri Scheme. Under this scheme, pregnant women belonging to 11 categories including SC, ST, NFSA and PM -JAY beneficiaries will be provided assistance of ₹12,000. For this purpose, I propose a provision of ₹750 crore in the budget for the year 2024-25.”

“The Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute has been established in Ahmedabad to provide medical care to people suffering from a serious disease like cancer. Patients not only from Gujarat, but also from neighbouring states seek medical help in this hospitals. The government has decided to set up a cyclotron project for nuclear medicine and a proton beam therapy center at the cost of ₹600 crore,” the Finance Minister added.

“The 21st century is an age of science and technology in which IT and associated technologies touch all aspects of life. New opportunities are also opening up in high value jobs in technology related sectors, for which, science education (STEM) is critical. To incentivize increased enrolment in STEM subjects I propose the Namo Saraswati scheme. Under this scholarship scheme, students enrolling in the science stream in higher secondary schools (from low and middle income households) will be given assistance of ₹10,000 annually while studying in class 11 and ₹15,000 while studying in class 12. This assistance of ₹25,000 over two years to students is expected to increase the number of students enrolled in science subjects from 2 lakh to 5 lakh annually over the next five years,” he further said.

The FM went on to say that, “Almost all government primary schools in the state have been upgraded in terms of their physical infrastructure and have also been given the digital resources for conversion into smart schools. The Mission Schools of Excellence is being implemented currently to construct new classrooms, upgrade existing classrooms into smart classrooms and provide computers to government primary schools. Facilities such as smart classrooms and improved infrastructure will now be made available to secondary government schools, as well as secondary schools supported by government grants under the Mission Schools of Excellence 2.0. It is also noteworthy that the Vidya Samiksha Kendra established to carry out real time monitoring of the work being carried out in schools and tracking the progress made by children, through the extensive use of technology has been considerably appreciated. Eminent personalities from India and abroad have visited the Kendra and it is sought to be replicated as a workable model in other parts of the country and the developing world.”

In his speech the FM said that the then Chief Minister and current Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had started the Nirmal Gujarat cleanliness drive in 2007. Subsequently, on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, he initiated the nationwide, Swatch Bharat Abhiyan. It is the intention of the government to make cleanliness the main motto of every house village and town and city to create a clean and healthy environment for its citizens. To achieve this objective, I announce the Nirmal Gujarat Abhiyan 2.0. Through this campaign, arrangements will be put in place through various schemes for the collection, segregation and suitable disposal of dry and wet waste ensuring mitigation of its impact on the environment. This campaign will be implemented as a people’s movement. For this purpose, I propose to increase the provision of ₹1,300 crore made in the current year to ₹2,500 crore in the budget for the coming year.

Announcing the scheme the FM said, “The government will introduce a single emergency number 112 to provide police, fire and other emergency services to citizens and communities through a centralized system, which is a part of our efforts to strengthen governance and improve citizen experience. On dialing this number, citizens can expect the emergency service to reach them within 10 minutes in urban areas and 30 minutes in rural areas. To meet this objective, I announce the Jan Rakshak Scheme under which a system of 1100 vehicles fitted with state-of-the-art equipment and requisite staff will be put in place in the state to improve emergency response to citizens.” DeshGujarat