Increased funds for border infrastructure and paramilitary forces but a decrease for Census operations and schemes to prevent cyber crime against women and children mark the latest Budget for the Ministry of Home Affairs, which has slipped to fifth spot in allocations as Railways pushed itself into the top three.
Finance Minister Nirmamla Sitharaman allocated Rs 1,96,034.94 crore, which includes transfer of Rs 39,867.22 crore to three union territories, for the MHA in 2023-24 Budget, up from Rs 1,85,776.55 crore allocated last year.
The Rajnath Singh-led Ministry of Defence retained the first spot in allocation with Rs 5.94 lakh crore, followed by the Nitin Gadkari-led Ministry of Road Transport and Highways at Rs 2.70 lakh crore, up from last Budget's third position.
Piyush Goyal's Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution slipped to fourth position from second at Rs 2.06 lakh crore while Railways shot up to third position at Rs 2.40 lakh crore from last year's fifth position.
As was the case in previous fiscals, the majority of the MHA allocation went to police and paramilitary forces among others at Rs 1,27,756.74 crore, up from Rs 1,17,687.99 crore in the 2022 Budget and revised estimates of Rs 1,19,070.36 crore.
At a time when there is tension on the borders, the latest Budget has increased allocation for border management and infrastructure from Rs 2,744.52 crore to Rs 3,545.03 crore.
However, the allocation for Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children and Miscellaneous Schemes, the allocation has seen a sharp decline from Rs 176.31 crore to Rs 120.78 crore. In 2021-22, Rs 759.59 crore.
For the stalled Census operations, the Budget has allocated Rs 1,564.65 crore, which is a decrease from last allocation of Rs 3,768.28 crore. The actual expenses so far is Rs 552.65 crore and the latest allocation indicates that the Census, which was to be held in 2021, may be further delayed.
This allocation includes provisions for the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India and various schemes of RGI, including National Population Register (NPR) and expenditure on Census, 2021.
The money earmarked for Nirbhaya Fund was halved to Rs 100 crore in the new Budget, but it was nowhere near Rs 2020-21 allocation of Rs 855.23 crore.
The allocation for modernisation of police forces, which saw a decrease in the last Budget, saw a rise this time -- from Rs Rs 2,754.16 crore to Rs 3,750 crore. The paramilitary forces -- CRPF, NSG, BSF, ITBP, CISF, Assam Rifles and SSB -- cornered Rs 94,665.03 crore, up from Rs Rs 87,444.06 crore allocated last time.
The CRPF, which is engaged in internal security duties in Kashmir and naxal-infested states among others, has been allocated Rs 31,772.23 crore as against last Budget's Rs 29,324.92 crore, while BSF, which is deployed on the India-Pak and India-Bangladesh borders, has been given Rs Rs 24,771.28 crore as against Rs 22718.45 crore.
The allocation for the Special Protection Group, which guards the Prime Minister, has seen an increase to Rs 433.59 crore from Rs 385.95 crore. The revised estimates for 2022-23 was pegged at Rs 411.88 crore. The actual expenditure for SPG was Rs 353.10 crore in 2021-22.