CM Shivraj Hopes To Fight Anti-Incumbency In Debt-Ridden MP With Freebies, Read Details

New Delhi: The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, headed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is trying hard to overcome the challenge of anti-incumbency before the Assembly elections later this year. The state government is launching various schemes and freebies to attract the voters even as the state has a debt of around Rs 3.5 lakh crore. The most recent scheme is to give e-scooties to 9,000 students, both boys and girls, who topped the Class 12 board exam. On Saturday, the Shivraj-led BJP government also started the ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’ in which Rs 1,000 is being sent online to the accounts of 1.25 crore women in the state.

This scheme covers women between 23-60 years who meet certain criteria, such as not paying income tax and having a family income below Rs 2.5 lakh per year. The state budget has allocated Rs 8,000 crore for this scheme. CM Shivraj said that married women aged 21 will also get the benefit of this scheme. He also said that the pension for elderly women will be increased to Rs 1,000.

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MP’s Per-Capita Debt Is Rs 41,000

The average debt per person in the state has risen sharply in the last five-six years. According to the debt figures, every person in the state owes Rs 41,000. It was Rs 13,853 at the end of March 2016, compared to Rs 10,896 in FY 2013-14. Experts say that the Madhya Pradesh government is “facing a severe economic crisis”, IANS reported.

The economic situation of Madhya Pradesh can be gauged by the fact that in the previous year 2022-2023, the state had an annual budget of Rs 2.79 lakh crore, while the government’s debt was at Rs 3.31 lakh crore. The Shivraj government’s self-reliant annual budget of Rs 3.14 lakh crore for the financial year 2023-2024, which was presented in March this year, could not exceed the total debt of Rs 3.29 lakh crore on the state.

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Congress has blamed the Shivraj-led BJP government for the “very poor” economic condition of the state.

"BJP government claims it borrowed loans from banks for the developments of the people, while the situation is quite different. The debt during Digvijaya Singh-led Congress government was at Rs 26,000 crore, now it has reached close to Rs 4 lakh crore, and the financial condition of the people in the state continues to decline," news agency IANS quoted senior Congress leader Tarun Bhanot, who was Finance Minister in Kamal Nath`s 15-month government as saying.

The former minister claimed the situation has worsened to such an extent that students were not given dues of their scholarship for the last two years.