Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present a SEPARATE budget for Jammu and Kashmir. Here’s why

Budget 2024: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament on July 23. After the general budget, the Finance Minister will also separately present the Jammu and Kashmir budget for the year 2024-25 on July 24, Wednesday.

This will be the fifth consecutive Budget of Jammu and Kashmir to be presented in Parliament instead of the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory. The erstwhile state has been without an elected government since 2018.

On February 5, Sitharaman proposed an interim Budget of ₹1.18 lakh crore for fiscal 2024-25 for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The UT budget is expected to be around the same amount in today’s budget. However, according to some reports, some welfare measures can be expected in the Budget today since the UT is likely to see assembly elections later this year.

News agency ANI reported that the UT budget copies have arrived in the Parliament. “Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the estimated receipts and expenditure (2024-25) of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) in Parliament today,” the agency reported.

Central rule since 2018

Jammu and Kashmir has been under Central rule since June 19, 2018, following the collapse of a coalition government headed by the People’s Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti after the pullout of its partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Manoj Sinha is the present Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of the UT.

The budget for 2019-20 was approved by then state governor Satya Pal Malik as head of the state administrative council. On August 5, 2019, apart from the abrogation of Article 370, the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Since then, the budgets are presented in the Parliament.

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The budgets will be presented in the assembly once Jammu and Kashmir has an elected house, like it used to have before 2018. On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India to hold Assembly elections in the UT before September 30, 2024.

Last assembly polls in erstwhile state were held in November-December 2014 paving way for PDP-BJP coalition government.