Home Ministry gets Rs 77,383.12 cr, a 13% hike

The Union Home ministry will get Rs 77,383.12 crore in the next fiscal, an increase of 13%, with majority of the allocation going to the paramilitary forces involved in fighting insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir as well as north-east and Maoists. 

The previous Budget had allocated a total of Rs 68,444.1 crore for the Union Home ministry.

In his Budget presented in Parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also allocated almost the same amount for modernisation of police as in the previous Budget.

According to the Budget documents, Rs 70184.58 crore has been allocated for the paramilitary forces and other police related expenditure, which is up from Rs 62124.52 crore allocated last year. Paramilitary forces alone gets Rs 50,176.45 crore.

CRPF gets the highestThe Central Reserve Police Force, which is in the forefront of anti-Maoist operations and anti-militant operations in Jammu and Kashmir, has been allocated the highest Rs 16,228.18 crore.

The next in order is the Border Security Force, which is guarding the international border with Pakistan and Bangladesh, with Rs 14,652.90 crore.

The Central Industrial Security Force, tasked with security of country’s airports, nuclear installation and key government buildings, has been allocated Rs 6,067.13 crore. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, guarding the Sino-Indian border, has got Rs 4,231.04 crore and Assam Rifles, deployed in Indo-Myanmar border and dealing with insurgents in the Northeast, will get Rs 4,363.88 crore.

Another Rs 2,490 crore has been allocated for erection of barbed wire fencing, construction of roads and induction of hi-tech surveillance on Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Pak borders.

Under the special industry initiative for Jammu and Kashmir, Jaitley has earmarked Rs 70 crore, up from Rs 45 crore. The disaster management apparatus will get Rs 1,579.75 crore.

The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System will get Rs 250 crore while the allocation for modernisation of police forces scheme will get Rs 1,753.90 crore.

The Intelligence Bureau will get Rs 1,410.45 crore while Special Protection Group, which guards Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former prime ministers, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul will get Rs 359.55 crore.

Another Rs 2,119.88 crore has been kept in the Budget for “providing support for research activities” in the Home ministry.