Shillong, Mar 5: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Wednesday that the Budget 2025-26 “is a people’s budget and all our interventions and program are citizen centric”. (See graphic by MM below)
Presenting a Rs 1,970-crore deficit budget in the Assembly, Sangma said, “The Government’s performance is evident in the many 35 development projects and State DBT programs that are being implemented and the opportunities that are being provided to Youth, Women and Farmers.”
Last year, Sangma appealed to the members of the House and citizens to remember the Budget 2024-25 as “Mission 10- an action plan for building a US$10 billion economy through leveraging 10 opportunities and providing 10 guarantees”.
This time, he exuded confidence that the state would achieve the US$10-billion target by 2028.
“This growth is largely driven by India’s robust economic performance. Notably, the share of central taxes is projected to increase by 10.5% to Rs 10,910 crore in 2025-26, up from Rs 9,870 crore in the current year,” he said.
Sangma also presented the climate budget for 2025-26 at Rs 5,421 crore and the gender budget at Rs 6,219 crore.
According to the chief minister, who holds charge of the Finance Department, the estimated total expenditure is Rs 27,597 crore, excluding repayment of loans of Rs 2,406 crore.
He said the interest payments for 2025-26 are estimated at Rs 1,347 crore and pension payments at Rs 1,824 crore.
“Along with the main budget document I am presenting the Climate, Youth, Gender and SDG Budgets The size of the climate budget for 2025-26 is Rs 5,421 crore, an increase of 20% over 2024-25; youth budget stands at Rs 3,329 crore, an increase of 16.6%, gender budget stands at Rs 6,219 crre, an increase of 25%,” he added.
