Central ministries as a whole are expected to get an increase of only 15 per cent in gross budgetary support for 2008-09, much lower than the 62 per cent increase they had demanded.

According to the estimates of GBS allocations for 2008-09 which are being finalised by the finance ministry in consultation with the Planning Commission, 18 ministries are expected to see a GBS growth of only 8 per cent over budget estimates (BE) for 2007-08 while 17 will see a growth of less than 12 per cent.

A bulk of the allocation is expected to go to sectors like urban employment and poverty alleviation, labour and employment, minority affairs, land resources, health and family welfare, fertilisers, and women and child development.

The reduced allocations in various sectors are likely to invite protests from many ministries, government sources say, adding that allocations for the human resource department, the accelerated irrigation benefit programme, rural development and almost all flagship programmes of the United Progressive Alliance government will see significant cuts.

For instance, the AIBP would be seriously under-funded at Rs 4,500 crore, given that the Ministry of Water Resources had sought Rs 13,000 crore for national irrigation projects.

The Planning Commission has demanded at least Rs 4,000 crore more for the scheme on account of high expectations from irrigation as a key input for agriculture.

Similarly, a provision of Rs 6,890 crore is proposed to be made for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, lower than what was demanded.

Only Rs 100 crore is proposed to be allocated to the Delhi government for the Commonwealth Games given that it has substantial resources. The provision for the Bombay Storm Water project is also being lowered.