What percentage of the Madhya Pradesh government's total expenditure budget was allocated to education in 2023 - 24 ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, 12.22%. The commission's final key marks 12.22% as education's share of Madhya Pradesh's total expenditure budget for 2023-24. Education is one of the largest single sectoral allocations in the MP budget, and its share of the total budget has stayed in the low teens across recent years — so 12.22% is the figure to carry, the share the commission's key accepts.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) Understates the allocation — a round number below the share the official key records for 2023-24.  (c) This is the figure that circulates in some secondary/coaching solutions for this question, but it is not what the commission's final key accepts. Do not carry it into the exam hall.  (d) Tempting because the average share that Indian states allocate to education is close to 15% (PRS Legislative Research puts it at about 14.8% of expenditure). That is an all-states benchmark, not MP's own share of its total expenditure budget in 2023-24.

Concept: A state budget is read in shares: what fraction of total expenditure goes to each sector. Education, health, agriculture, rural development and irrigation are the recurring heads, and in almost every state education takes the single largest sectoral slice. Because the shares are percentages, both the numerator (what counts as 'education' — school education alone, or school plus higher and technical education) and the denominator (total budget including debt repayment, or expenditure net of it) decide the number you get.

State PCS 2025 Q39 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q39 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer