The Punjab Budget 2025 presented under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a hollow drama—an eye-opening document that exposes the government’s incompetence, broken promises and utter apathy towards the people of Punjab. Far from fulfilling its grand promises, the budget clearly exposes the AAP government’s misplaced priorities and its dangerous contribution to the state’s fiscal ruin. Failure to give Rs 1,000 to women – a broken star promise Despite its third budget, the Bhagwant Mann-led government has failed miserably to fulfill its flagship promise of giving Rs 1,000 every month to the women of Punjab. This was a mainstay of the AAP’s election campaign, but it remains an unfulfilled dream, leaving millions of women disappointed. Despite giving false assurances of implementation in the recent budget, the government has once again shown its incompetence, proving that its promises are just empty slogans. Cruel joke on agriculture – The meager amount of Rs 14,000 crore for agriculture, the backbone of Punjab’s economy, is woefully inadequate. If the free electricity subsidy for tubewells—which was already there—is reduced, the actual investment in agriculture remains negligible. This is a cruel joke on the farmers of Punjab, who are struggling with rising costs, stagnant incomes and lack of meaningful support. The AAP government’s apathy towards crop diversification, modern irrigation and debt relief measures further highlights its indifference to the agrarian crisis. No funds for Malwa Canal Project, an illusion of development With great celebrations, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had laid the foundation stone of the Malwa Canal Project, which promised to increase irrigation in the region. But no funds were earmarked for this crucial infrastructure initiative in the 2025 budget. This glaring omission exposes the government’s habit of making big announcements and then not implementing them, leaving Malwa farmers parched and groundwater depletion continuing.
The biggest feature of this budget is that it imposes a huge debt burden on Punjab. In just three years, the AAP government has increased the state’s debt by nearly Rs 1 lakh crore, which is equivalent to the Rs 3 lakh crore debt accumulated in 30 years from 1992 to 2022. This unrestrained borrowing spree, coupled with a lack of revenue generation or economic vision, threatens to besmirch Punjab’s future for generations to come. Education and health neglect: Despite big claims, there is no tangible increase for schools and hospitals in the budget, leaving Punjab’s youth and vulnerable sections deprived of quality services. Job promises unfulfilled: AAP’s promise to create lakhs of jobs remains a distant illusion, while unemployment remains an unhealed wound. Silence on law and order: Amid rising crime and drug trafficking, the budget contains no concrete measures to strengthen Punjab’s security system, betraying the trust of the citizens.
This budget is a slap in the face to every Punjabi who had believed in AAP’s promises of change. This is a deceptive document, lacking in vision and designed to hide the government’s failures behind popular slogans. The people of Punjab deserve better than this, not a leadership that plays on drama and pushes the state towards financial ruin. We appeal to the AAP government to stop misleading the people and take immediate corrective steps. Punjab cannot afford another year of empty promises and mounting debt.
