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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | A raw deal for children in budgets: child rights body by Aarti Dhar

A raw deal for children in budgets: child rights body by Aarti Dhar

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published Published on Nov 14, 2010   modified Modified on Nov 14, 2010

They received mere 4.45 paise out of every Rs.100 allocated

On an average, children received a mere 4.45 paise out of every Rs.100 allocated in the Union budget from 2004-05 to 2008-09. Even as India is hailed worldwide as one of the fastest growing economies, it seems to neglect its children, who constitute 42 per cent of the population.

Not only are children's issues, especially health, nutrition and security, falling off the radar, much of what little is allocated is not being spent at all. In actual spending, children's share in the Union budget has come down further, to 4.12 paise.

More striking is the fact that this share has increased very slowly, from less than 3 per cent in the previous decade, despite huge allocations in the current decade for education (the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) and development (the Integrated Child Development Scheme).

This is one of the findings of a Budget for Children (BfC) analysis, conducted by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, over the five-year period. The Union budget and budgets of six States were analysed for the purpose.

Of every Rs.100 allocated in the Union budget, education programmes get Rs.2.90. That may seem small but not, given that health and development programmes receive less than one rupee each, while protection programmes — always the stepchild — get five paise. In a country where most development indicators for children reflect poor achievement and slow progress, such poor shares is a reflection of the government's weak commitment to children, the survey says.

The difference between the budget estimates and the actual expenditure is a comment on the government's planning and capacity utilisation efficiencies at various levels. For instance, while the budget allocation for children went up by 40 per cent from Rs.21,032.84 crore in 2005-06 to Rs.29,518.55 crore in 2006-07, the actual spending was just 21.65 per cent more, from Rs.22,875.27 crore to Rs.27,827.87 crore.

HAQ also did a funds-tracking analysis for the SSA in the six States. According to the Central Excise and Customs Board, since the elementary education cess was imposed in 2004-05 till January 2009, the government has collected a total of Rs.23,889.83 crore in education cess (including the secondary education cess) in the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh (PSK), which is used to fund the SSA and the midday meal scheme. This cess is collected even from those whose children are not receiving proper education from the government.

The government has steadily shifted the responsibility of funding these two schemes to the PSK. From 2006-07 to 2008-09, the allocation from the PSK for the two schemes went up by 46.55 per cent, from Rs.8,746 crore to Rs.12,817 crore. But the government's own contribution remained practically stagnant: it was Rs.6,109 crore in 2006-07 and Rs.6,323 crore in 2008-09. In fact, it can be said that when the effect of inflation is taken into account, the government's contribution to education is declining.

HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, a non-profit organisation working for child rights since 1999, pioneered the BfC analysis in 2001.


The Hindu, 15 November, 2010, http://www.hindu.com/2010/11/15/stories/2010111563412000.htm


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