Hyderabad: It’s a case of “hits and misses” on the welfare front in the 2026-27 annual state budget presented by deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka in the state assembly on Friday.While allocations have been increased for some of the schemes being implemented as part of the six guarantees and other poll promises, some of the cash-intensive and women-centric schemes were conspicuously missing from the budget this year as well.While the hits include an increased allocation towards bonuses for agricultural produce from Rs 1,800 crore in 2025-26 to Rs 3,500 crore in 2026-27, the big misses included the much publicised but cash-intensive Rs 2500 monthly assistance promised to women.The one-tola gold promise to women under Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak failed to find a place in the budget this year as well. However, the allocation for interest-free loans for women’s self-help groups rose from Rs 1,511 crore to Rs 2,500 crore.Power subsidy support saw a sharp rise from Rs 11,500 crore to Rs 14,000 crore, even as education and welfare also got a boost with Young India integrated schools getting a heftier Rs 5,000 crore as against Rs 2,900 crore.However, the Ambedkar Abhaya Hastham (formerly Dalit Bandhu) missed the bus this time too. Some cases saw allocations slashed too. Indiramma houses allocation was reduced to Rs 7,430 crore, down from Rs 12,571 crore in the previous budget, even though the government had spent over Rs 5,000 crore under the scheme.Other major hits include new schemes too. Cheyutha pensions will be increased from Rs 2,016 to Rs 3,016 a month and extended to two lakh more beneficiaries even as breakfast and mid-day meals were announced for schools and intermediate students too, among others.However, there is no mention of how the budget for implementation of these new schemes would be mobilised when the state govt is already struggling to implement ongoing welfare schemes. The Congress govt allocated Rs 50,713 crore in the 2026-27 fiscal for implementation of nine of its welfare schemes as part of the six guarantees, as against Rs 56,084 crore allocated in the 2025-26 budget.In all, chief minister A Revanth Reddy’s govt projected Rs 1.45 lakh crore in budgetary allocations for six guarantees, other important schemes, and major schemes.Financial experts said the state govt will need to go for borrowings, land auctions, and other sources of income to implement its welfare schemes and development agenda, as the present income would not be sufficient to implement all the welfare schemes listed in the financial statement for the ensuing financial year.
