Decoding Chhattisgarh’s 2026 Scheme Landscape: Department-wise Updates And Outcomes

Policy Update
Sruti Halder

Background

Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000, covers 1,35,192 sq km, the 9th largest state in India, and had a 2011 Census population of 2.55 crore, of which 30.6 percent belong to Scheduled Tribes and 76.8 percent live in rural areas (Forest Survey of India, 2019). Nearly 44 percent of the state is under forest cover, concentrated in the Naxal-affected Bastar and Surguja divisions, which makes last-mile welfare delivery in scattered, forested, low-density habitations a central governance challenge.

Post December 2023, the new state government has presented three successive budgets themed GYAN, GATI and, for 2026-27, SANKALP, read as Adhosanrachna (Infrastructure), Nivesh (Investment) and Kushal Manav Sansadhan (Skilled Human Resources). The Budget Speech dated 24 February 2026 raised total expenditure (excluding debt repayment) to Rs 1,72,000 crore, a 10 percent increase over the 2025-26 revised estimate, funded through receipts of Rs 1,43,100 crore and net borrowings of Rs 27,900 crore.

Twelve new schemes and five new missions: Chief Minister AI Mission, Tourism Development Mission, Sports Excellence Mission, Infrastructure Mission and Startup-Nipun Mission, were announced, each committed at least Rs 100 crore annually for five years . Delivery is anchored through Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer, the state’s e-District portal, the Public Distribution System, and dedicated scheme portals such as mahtarivandan.cgstate.gov.in.

Read together, the department-wise allocations for 2026-27 signal where the state’s policy weight actually falls, beyond the budget speech’s stated themes.

Four broad priorities emerge from the scheme-level data examined in this article. 

• First, agricultural income security commands the single largest share of scheme spending,  Krishak Unnati Yojana alone (₹10,000 crore) and the free-power scheme for irrigation pumps (₹5,500 crore) together commit over ₹15,500 crore, reflecting the continued political and fiscal weight of the paddy economy even as diversification-oriented schemes such as Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (₹20 crore) and the Natural Farming Mission (₹40 crore) remain comparatively marginal. 
• Second, welfare and social protection form the next-largest cluster, led by Mahtari Vandan Yojana (₹8,200 crore) and the food-security top-up scheme Mukhyamantri Khadyann Sahayata Yojana (₹6,500 crore), indicating a shift toward direct cash and in-kind transfers as the state’s primary welfare delivery mechanism, ahead of service-based interventions. 
• Third, rural infrastructure and basic services, spanning PMAY-Gramin, the rural employment-cum-infrastructure mission, and Jal Jeevan Mission, form a consistent but comparatively smaller mid-tier priority, suggesting steady rather than accelerated investment in housing and water access. 
• Fourth, a long tail of small sectoral and institutional-capacity schemes, in forestry, planning, disaster mitigation, and land records, receive allocations under ₹5 crore each, pointing to functions that remain administratively necessary but fiscally peripheral relative to headline transfers.

This pattern, a small number of very large, politically salient transfer schemes sitting alongside a long tail of modestly funded sectoral schemes, is the defining structural feature of Chhattisgarh’s 2026-27 scheme architecture, and is examined in more depth through the department-wise tables and the concluding analysis below.

CHHATTISGARH BUDGET 2026-27 – DEPARTMENT WISE LIST (45 DEPARTMENTS, 172 SCHEMES WITH DISCLOSED ALLOCATIONS)

Agriculture Development & Farmers Welfare

Animal Husbandry

Civil Aviation

Commerce & Industry

Commercial Tax (incl. GST)

Cooperation

Culture

Electronics & Information Technology

Energy

Excise

Finance

Fisheries

Food Processing

Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Protection

Forest & Climate Change

General Administration

Home Department

Housing & Environment

Jail Department

Labour

Law & Legislative Affairs

Medical Education

Mineral Resources

Panchayat & Rural Development

Planning, Economics & Statistics

Public Health & Family Welfare

Public Health Engineering

Public Relations

Public Works Department

Religious Trusts & Endowments

Revenue & Disaster Management

Rural Industries

Scheduled Caste Development

School Education

Science & Technology

Skill Development, Technical Education & Employment

Social Welfare

Sports & Youth Welfare

Technical Education

Tourism

Transport

Tribal Development

Urban Administration & Development

Water Resources

Women & Child Development

CONCLUSION

Once schemes without a disclosed numeric allocation are excluded, Chhattisgarh’s 2026-27 budget carries 172 schemes with clearly stated figures across 45 departments. The distribution of these allocations reveals a clear hierarchy of state priorities rather than an evenly spread portfolio, as the two charts below illustrate. 

Source: Government of Chhattisgarh, Finance Department, Budget Documents 2026–27. 

Source: Government of Chhattisgarh, Finance Department, Budget Documents 2026–27. 

These extremes, a gap of over 33,000 times between the highest and lowest allocated scheme, point to four broad policy priorities underlying the 2026-27 outlay. 

• First, agricultural income security dominates fiscal choices, with Krishak Unnati Yojana and the free-power scheme for irrigation pumps together committing over ₹15,500 crore to farmer support, reflecting the continued political and economic weight of the paddy economy. 
• Second, welfare and social protection claim the next-largest share, led by Mahtari Vandan Yojana and the food-security top-up scheme, signalling a shift toward direct cash and in-kind transfers as the primary welfare delivery mechanism. 
• Third, rural infrastructure and housing (PMAY-Gramin, the rural employment-cum-infrastructure mission, and Jal Jeevan Mission) form a consistent mid-tier priority, indicating sustained, if slower, investment in basic service access. 
• Fourth, a long tail of small sectoral and institutional-capacity schemes,  in forestry, planning, disaster mitigation, and land records,  receive token allocations under ₹5 crore each, suggesting these functions remain administratively important but fiscally peripheral relative to headline welfare and agriculture spending. 

Overall, the pattern indicates a budget weighted toward visible, high-impact transfers over broader institutional or capacity-building investment, a trade-off future editions of this analysis should track as scheme-level utilisation data becomes available.

References:

1. Government of Chhattisgarh, Finance Department – Budget Documents & Detailed Demand for Grants 2026–27 https://finance.cg.gov.in 
2. Chhattisgarh Budget Analysis 2026-27 – PRS Legislative Research (full PDF) https://prsindia.org/files/budget/budget_state/chhattisgarh/2026/Budget_Analysis_2026-27-CG.pdf 
3. Government of Chhattisgarh, Office of the Accountant General – Accounts at a Glance, April 2026 (Budget Estimates 2026-27 vs. Actuals) https://saiindia.gov.in/uploads/state_accounts_report/account-report-MKI-04-2026-06a06faa114f4d2-01898635.pdf 
4. Chhattisgarh FM Presents Budget 2026-27 – News on Air, Prasar Bharati https://www.newsonair.gov.in/chhattisgarh-fm-o-p-choudhary-presents-budget-for-year-2026-27-in-state-legislative-assembly
5. Mahtari Vandan Yojana – Official Portal https://mahtarivandan.cgstate.gov.in
6. PM Launches Mahtari Vandan Yojana in Chhattisgarh – PIB https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2013167
7. Jal Jeevan Mission: Making Clean Tap Water a Reality for Chhattisgarh – PIB https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2023/aug/doc2023811236701.pdf
8. Jal Jeevan Mission – Ensuring Tap Water for 15 Crore Rural Families – PIB https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2098651
9. Jal Jeevan Mission – Official https://jaljeevanmission.gov.in
10. Chhattisgarh Cabinet Approves Rs 10,000 Crore for Paddy Farmers – Drishti IAS https://www.drishtiias.com/state-pcs-current-affairs/chhattisgarh-cabinet-approves-10000-crore-for-paddy-farmers
11. Mahtari Vandan Yojana, Chhattisgarh (2024) – IMPRI Insights https://www.impriindia.com/insights/policy-update/mahtari-vandan-yojana-chhattisgarh-2024-womens-welfare-through-direct-cash-transfers/
12. Chhattisgarh Forest Cover – Forest Survey of India, ISFR 2019 https://fsi.nic.in/isfr19/vol2/isfr-2019-vol-ii-chhattisgarh.pdf

About the Contributor

Sruti Halder is pursuing an MSc in Economics at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. She is committed to leveraging data-driven research and evidence-based policymaking to promote inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development. 

Acknowledgment

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to IMPRI (Impact and Policy Research Institute) for providing me with the opportunity to prepare this policy update article and for fostering a rigorous learning environment that connects research with public policy practice.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the organisation.

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