Keep up-to-date with all that is happening in welfare policy with this curated selection of news, published every fortnight. 

Policy News 

State Budgets

• The Odisha government has presented a Rs. 1.50 lakh crore Budget for FY 2020-21. This year’s budget was a ‘Green Budget’, presented in a paperless format. Odisha is the second state after Himachal Pradesh to follow this format.
• The Uttar Pradesh government has presented a Budget of over Rs. 5 lakh crore for FY 2020-21.
• The newly elected AAP government will present Delhi’s Budget for FY 2020-21 after 10 March. The budgetary exercise has begun.

Health and Nutrition 

• The Odisha government has introduced a separate Nutrition Budget for FY 2020-21 to improve nutrition outcomes, and to tackle malnutrition and undernutrition. The state government has made provision of over Rs. 5,000 crore for 12 nutrition-specific schemes, and more than Rs 25,000 crore for 84 schemes deemed “nutrition-sensitive”.  Download our latest Budget Briefs on nutrition-related Centrally Sponsored Schemes for more.

Sanitation 

• Phase 2 of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin has received Cabinet approval, and will be implemented in mission mode between 2020-21 and 2024-25. It will run on an estimated budget of Rs. 52,497 crore, and will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus) and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). Download our latest Budget Brief to understand the scheme and its progress till now. 

Rural Development 

• President Ram Nath Kovind has said that the government is taking various steps towards boosting the rural economy, and will spend Rs. 25 lakh crore over the coming years for this. Several schemes targeting the rural population, especially farmers, such as provision of subsidies on seeds and machinery are being implemented. Download our latest Budget Brief on Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi to know more about allocations and spending under the scheme.