Which one is not included in the Budget Priorities in pursuit of ‘Vikasit Bharat’ in Union Budget 2024-25 ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Sustainable Development. The Union Budget 2024-25, presented on 23 July 2024, contains a section headed 'Budget Priorities' in which the Finance Minister said that, in line with the strategy set out in the interim budget, 'this budget envisages sustained efforts on the following 9 priorities for generating ample opportunities for all'. The nine, in the speech's own order, are: (1) Productivity and resilience in Agriculture, (2) Employment and Skilling, (3) Inclusive Human Resource Development and Social Justice, (4) Manufacturing and Services, (5) Urban Development, (6) Energy Security, (7) Infrastructure, (8) Innovation, Research and Development, and (9) Next Generation Reforms. Three of this question's four options are lifted from that list word for word — option (a) is priority 1, option (c) is priority 2 and option (b) is priority 6. 'Sustainable Development' appears nowhere among the nine, and that is what makes it the answer. Read the option list carefully and it half-announces itself: the nearest thing to a sustainability heading in the official list is Energy Security, and the setter has put Energy Security on the paper as a separate option, so the two cannot both be on the list. Be clear about what is and is not being claimed. The budget is full of sustainability content — natural farming for a crore farmers, climate-resilient crop varieties, an energy transition pathway — but the question asks about the named headings under 'Budget Priorities', and 'Sustainable Development' is not one of them.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) This is priority number one in the speech's own list, printed almost exactly as the option reads. Under it fall the review of agricultural research, the release of 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops, and the plan to bring one crore farmers into natural farming over two years.  (b) Priority number six, and the reason a candidate looking for a 'green' heading can be misled: Energy Security is where the budget's energy-transition material sits, so it occupies the space that 'Sustainable Development' appears to claim. Both cannot be on the list, and Energy Security is the one that is.  (c) Priority number two, and one of the most discussed headings of that budget, carrying the employment-linked incentive schemes and the internship programme announcements. Its prominence in the coverage makes it a safe elimination for anyone who followed the budget at all.

Concept: The Union Budget speech is a structured document, and the structure is examinable in itself. Part A sets out the government's priorities and expenditure announcements; Part B carries the tax proposals, direct and indirect. Since 2021 the speech has usually organised Part A around a small numbered list of pillars or priorities, and the 2024-25 speech chose nine, framed as a roadmap for 'Viksit Bharat' — the developed-India-by-2047 formulation that the interim budget of February 2024 had promised to detail. The speech explicitly says that 'subsequent budgets will build on these, and add more priorities and actions', which is why the list is dated to a particular year rather than being a standing framework. For a Bihar candidate the same budget matters for a second reason: it announced Purvodaya, a plan for the all-round development of the eastern region covering Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, and a substantial package of Bihar-specific projects underneath it.

State PCS 2024 Q148 — Economy PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q148 — Economy PYQ with Answer