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2/24/2015 Social spend needs Budget boost The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/business/budget/socialspendneedsbudgetboost/article6926456.ece?homepage=true&css=print 1/2
The Hindu
Business » Budget
Published: February 24, 2015 02:34 IST | Updated: February 24, 2015 12:46 IST BUDGET 2015
Social spend needs Budget boost
Rukmini S.
Delays have grown on the ground for schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,according to data from Accountability Initiative, which monitors public finances.
Allocation has remained same since 2007.
Social sector spending has flatlined over the past few years, and massive spending expansions are required to keepPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s key promises, Budget data show.
Social sector spending — expenditure on health, education, water supply, sanitation and housing among others — hasdoubled over the past 10 years as a proportion of the Union government’s total expenditure. But the big expansioncame between 2004 and 2007, and more or less flattened at around 12 per cent of the total expenditure since then,show data from the Economic Census for various years.
Social sector spending as % of total Central Government expenditureSocial sector spending as % of total Central Government expenditureSocial sector spending as % of total Central Government expenditure
2004 052004 052004 05 2005 062005 062005 06 2006 072006 072006 07 2007 082007 082007 08 2008 092008 092008 09 2009 102009 102009 10 2010 112010 112010 11 2011 122011 122011 12 2012 132012 132012 13
888
101010
121212
2/24/2015 Social spend needs Budget boost The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/business/budget/socialspendneedsbudgetboost/article6926456.ece?homepage=true&css=print 2/2
In its first Budget in 2014, the National Democratic Alliance government held allocations for most flagship UnitedProgressive Alliance schemes close to what the outgoing government made in its last Budget, an interim one prior tothe Lok Sabha elections.
However, the release of funds has slowed down sharply for some schemes such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (earlierknown as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan), while delays have grown on the ground for others such as the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, show data from Accountability Initiative, which monitors publicfinances. A senior official of the Rural Development Ministry, however, attributed this to “the usual friction duringchange in government,” which the official said would ease soon.
Allocation in201314 (Rs.crore)Allocation in201415 (Rs.crore)
0 10000 20000 30000 40000
MGNREGS
SBM
NRHM
BRGF
Data on NHRM up to September 2014
If the government is to follow through on its promises, the Union Budget to be presented on Saturday should be abreak from the past.
Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu pegged the cost of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan at Rs. 2 lakh croreover five years, a sum yet to be formally budgeted. Should the Budget reflect this expenditure, an allocation of Rs.40,000 crore will be required, which is 10 times the allocation last year and twoandahalf times the entire Budget forthe Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry for 201415.
Keywords: Narendra Modi government, Budget 2015, Budget data social sector spending
Printable version | Feb 24, 2015 3:51:03 PM | http://www.thehindu.com/business/socialspendneedsbudgetboost/article6926456.ece
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