scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeOpinionFarm to health to education, Modi govt’s Budget has no clear vision...

Farm to health to education, Modi govt’s Budget has no clear vision for India’s social sector

The Budget reverted to Modi government’s old avatar – a focus on infrastructure and a mission-mode model of meeting targets, this time for water.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

In a departure from some of the previous speeches, this year’s Budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not begin with social welfare programmes. No mention was made of the flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) – much advertised as the largest health insurance scheme aimed at providing access to quality inpatient secondary and tertiary care to 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families and reducing catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditures. Nor was there a mention of the recent initiatives under the National Nutrition Mission or Poshan Abhiyaan. Surprisingly, despite being a prime focus in the interim Budget and the announcement of its expanded coverage, the PM-Kisan scheme too did not find a mention.

Instead, the Budget reverted to the Narendra Modi government’s old avatar – a focus on infrastructure and a mission-mode model of meeting targets, this time for water.

A closer look at the Budget numbers reveals that while allocations for the social sector including for education, health and supplementary nutrition have increased over the 2018-19 revised estimates (18 per cent for the school education scheme Samagra Shiksha, 11 per cent for the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and nearly two-fold for PMJAY), no changes were made for most from the interim Budget in February.


Also read: Modi govt’s Swachh Bharat shows why switching to ‘mission mode’ is helping India


In its place, we have the intention to invest Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure over the next five years and a reiteration of previous commitments including those of building 1.95 crore houses in Phase 2 of the housing scheme and an upgradation of 1,25,000 roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

With Swachh Bharat construction “targets” nearly met as per the Management Information System (MIS) – it’s no surprise that the new jan andolan is going to be for water. As on 5 July 2019, only 18 per cent of rural households had piped water supply connections and less than 50 per cent of fully covered habitations have access to 55 litres per capita per day. The newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission (under the National Rural Drinking Water Mission or NRDWM), will now go full swing in trying to ensure connectivity of piped water supply to all rural households by 2024. Correspondingly, allocations for the NRDWM have seen a significant increase – 82 per cent from last years revised estimates and 22 per cent from the interim Budget.

The much-needed focus on India’s water crisis is a welcome step and the announcement of the Jal Shakti Ministry, (made earlier), by integrating the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation will allow for a more integrated look at the water resource management. So too is the mention on the need to prioritise solid and liquid waste management (SLWM). Many states are only now beginning to spend on SLWM, although the numbers remain low. As per data analysed by the Accountability Initiative at Centre for Policy Research, in FY 2018-19, 4 per cent of total state expenditure on Swachh Bharat Gramin and 3 per cent of the Centre’s total expenditure was on SLWM.


Also read: Centre gives a lot of money to states for social welfare. A good policy, but only on paper


That no new schemes were launched isn’t surprising and probably even wise given the fiscal stress on the economy. The social sector, in particular, has long suffered from a multitude of small schemes (usually in the form of Centrally Sponsored Schemes), often causing grief to the states responsible for their implementation. The emphasis on infrastructure in order to revive the economy too isn’t a surprise given the economic slowdown.

What seemed missing, however, was a clear articulation of the vision for the social sector. Budget speeches provide important political signals on a roadmap for the country. While this years’ speech acknowledged the need to go back to some of the basics when it came to things like zero-budgeting for agriculture, a relook at the UDAY scheme and the need (and promise to announce) a package of structural reforms, the same was missing for the social sector.


Also read: Zero-budget farming: Why Budget 2019 isn’t in sync with PM Modi’s promises to farmers


With the numerous health disasters faced by the country in the last year and the worrying trends in the second edition of the Health Index by NITI Aayog, the Budget missed an opportunity to articulate a comprehensive vision for the social sector: one which focuses on coordinated efforts and convergence across departments and ministries for health, education, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), food and social security, to ensure in Nirmala Sitharaman’s words, that the “aasha, vishwas and aakansha” of millions of women, children and vulnerable families are fulfilled.

The author is a Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Director of the Accountability Initiative (AI). Views are personal.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

1 COMMENT

  1. Someone has pointed out how the allocation of four hundred crores for creating Institutions of Excellence stacks up against Harvard’s $ 40 billion corpus. Mumbai Mirror carries a report on the dreadful state of J J Hospital, the city’s largest public hospital. We are now living from Election to election.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular