MHA gets third-highest allocation, less money for Nirbhaya Fund, police modernisation

Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution have higher allocation than the MHA

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) got the third-highest allocation at a little over Rs 1.66 lakh crore in the latest Budget on Monday with the Nirbhaya Fund and police modernisation programme showing a decrease in the money it would be receiving next fiscal.

Overall, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in February last year had allocated Rs 1.67 lakh crore for the MHA but the revised estimates gave the MHA only Rs 1.49 lakh crore as the Covid-19 pandemic strained the resources.

The latest allocation showed that the MHA's funds for the next fiscal were marginally less than the previous allocation but an increase from the revised estimates. The Ministry of Defence with Rs 4.78 lakh crore and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution with Rs 2.56 lakh crore have higher allocation than the MHA.

As usual, the majority of the MHA allocation went to the police and paramilitary forces, among others, at Rs 1.03 lakh crore while another Rs 3,768.28 crore has been earmarked for Census operations, which will be a digital exercise, as and when the government announces the re-start of the process that was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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However, the money earmarked for the Nirbhaya Fund decreased from last time's Rs 855.23 crore to Rs 100 crore. The allocation for modernisation of police forces also decreased from Rs 3,161.91 crore to Rs 2,134.61 crore.

The paramilitary forces cornered Rs 77,838.04 crore in latest allocation as against Rs 77,886.52 crore last year. The revised estimates were pegged at Rs 73,590.05 crore.

CRPF, which is engaged in internal security duties in Kashmir and Naxal-infested states among others, has been allocated Rs 26,197.90 crore, which is an increase from last year's increase of Rs 26,259.41 crore. BSF, which is deployed on the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders, has been given Rs 20,729.54 crore as against Rs 20,952.49 crore.

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The Special Protection Group, which guards the Prime Minister, has been allocated Rs 429.05 crore as against the previous allocation of Rs 592.55 crore. The reduction in allocation came as the government earlier changed laws only to allow the Prime Minister to be covered by SPG.

The Intelligence Bureau has been allocated Rs 2,839.24 crore, up from the last allocation of Rs 2,575.25 crore and revised estimates of Rs 2,433.89 crore.

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre has been allocated Rs 69.60 crore. The central sector schemes and projects of the MHA got Rs 1,641.12 crore while Rs 481.61 crore has been earmarked for disaster management.