The UPA Government is penalising the poor for the failure of the system, said National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy at a press conference here to analyse the Government’s social sector spending in Budget 2013-14.
She was referring to a view in the Government that the rural job scheme was no longer required because of corruption.
Disappointed with the Budget’s ‘neglect’ of the social sector and social security, economist Subrat Das of the Centre of Budget and Governance Accountability, said spending on the sector in India was less than two per cent of GDP. This is even as revenue foregone as tax breaks to corporates amounts to 5.7 per cent of GDP.
He said the only concrete measures were the extension of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to other categories and higher allocation for the Indira Aawas Yojana from Rs 11,705 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 15,183 crore in 2013-14.
The allocation for National Social Assistance Programme, which covers pensions for old age, widows and the disabled, has been raised only marginally from Rs 8,382 crore to Rs 9,541 crore in 2013-14. This is even as the total number of people above the age of 65 has risen considerably.
Declaring that the Budget had signed the ‘death warrant’ of the elderly and disabled, civil society activists began a five-day ‘No Pension, No Vote’ campaign from Monday demanding more funds for schemes such as old age pension.
Das said allocation for education, health, rural development ministries had also been raised marginally. As for the food security legislation, the Government’s expectation that Rs 10,000 crore was enough implied not only its “lack of urgency to enact the Bill but also gross under-estimation of the resources required,” he added.