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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | A status quo budget for the social sector -Yamini Aiyar

A status quo budget for the social sector -Yamini Aiyar

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published Published on Feb 3, 2017   modified Modified on Feb 3, 2017
-Livemint.com

It should lay to rest the ongoing debate about this government’s attempt to radically restructure India’s welfare architecture

There were no surprises—no helicopter drop of money into Jan-Dhan accounts, no move to dismantle ongoing welfare schemes in favour of a universal basic income (UBI). Far from being the populist, game-changing budget that many had expected, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley presented a sombre, status quo budget which, apart from some tinkering with allocations, offers no vision and agenda for social policy, especially when it comes to core sectors like health and education.

Most key social sector ministries saw some increases in allocation (see the table). The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is an interesting story. In his budget speech, the finance minister made it a point to highlight that the MGNREGS has received its highest allocation ever at Rs48,000 crore. However, this is a mere 1% increase from the allocation in 2016-17 which, when we include supplementary budgets made through the year, stood at Rs47,499 crore (revised estimate). Moreover, expenditure for 2016-17 (as on 1 February) is Rs53,594 crore. This suggests that even the “highest ever allocation” is nowhere near what the scheme really needs if demand for work is to be met.

The finance minister’s status quo approach to social policy should lay to rest, for the moment at least, the ongoing debate about this government’s attempt to radically restructure India’s welfare architecture. Even though the conversation on a UBI has gained ground, especially with a chapter in the Economic Survey, this budget seems to indicate the government’s increased reliance on the United Progressive Alliance’s rights-based welfare regime rather than anything new.

This is best evidenced in the fact that the finance minister dedicated three long paragraphs in his speech to fairly minor implementation details of the MGNREGS.

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Livemint.com, 2 February, 2017, http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/dJPQ7k3QEuLsBV2iLbWv5L/A-status-quo-budget-for-the-social-sector.html


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