300 crore for LIFE Mission project, 677 crore for students; budget ensures support for backward communities

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The final budget of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government has announced several schemes aimed at the welfare of backward communities. An allocation of Rs 200.94 crore has been made for backward community development, while Rs 300 crore has been set aside for the LIFE Mission housing project for the Scheduled Castes. In addition, Rs 677.17 crore has been earmarked for the development of students from the Scheduled Castes, and Rs 370 crore has been allocated for higher education in the Scheduled Areas.

Finance Minister K N Balagopal said Rs 3 crore will be provided to support self-employment initiatives for widows from backward communities. The budget has also allocated Rs 94.69 crore for minority welfare and Rs 4 crore for foreign scholarship programmes for minorities. He added that allocations for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe development, as well as the health sector, have been increased by more than 15 percent. A new scheme for the sustainable development of converted Christians has been allotted Rs 10 crore.

The budget speech, delivered by Balagopal, began at 9 a.m. and lasted for 2 hours and 53 minutes. It was the fourth-longest budget speech in the history of the Kerala Assembly, following those presented by former finance ministers Thomas Isaac and Oommen Chandy.