Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Activists and concerned citizens oppose budget cuts in social sector

Activists and concerned citizens oppose budget cuts in social sector

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Nov 29, 2014   modified Modified on Nov 29, 2014
-Press Release from Centre for Budget Analysis (CBGA) and Jan Awaaz

New Delhi, 29 November 2014: There have been a number of media reports recently around possible cuts in Union Budget allocations for the current fiscal 2014-15 in case of social sector programmes, i.e. reductions in allocations in the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2014-15 as compared to the Budget Estimates (BE) that were made in July this year. This issue deserves a closer scrutiny and a larger public debate.

Jayati Ghosh, JNU, said that, "these kind of budget cuts are inhumane and preposterous. The already unacceptable low allocation in the social sector is being arbitrarily slashed further." The question is at whose cost budget cuts are being made, she queried. She cautioned the government not to bypass the Parliament, media and citizens and undertake such measures surreptitiously.

Explaining the repercussion, Ms. Kousalya, PWN+ stated that the drastic cut of the HIV budget by Rs. 485 crore out of Rs. 1785 crore could be likened "to a death certificate for the huge number of women, men and children who are living with and affected by HIV." Such budget cuts will not only impact the lives of people living with HIV but will also lead to the resurgence of the epidemic, she emphasized.

Taking this forward, Prabhat Patnaik, JNU stated that "considering the fact that government is forecasting a 5.3% growth rate for this year the social sector cuts in budget raises the question as to what kind of growth is the government shaping". He also went on to agree with Jayati Ghosh that such arbitrary cuts in budget could be seen as constitutionally questionable.

Over the last few years, an argument put forward by the Union Ministry of Finance in defense of such budget cuts has been that there are unspent funds in the social sector programmes, or, in other words, the implementing agencies in the States not being able to fully absorb the approved levels of funds and hence the outlays for the programmes gets cut as part of the mid-year exercise of Revised Estimates.

Paradoxically, we find that this argument is not tenable any longer, as the levels of fund utilization in most social sector programs have shown a visible improvement in the last few years.

Subrat Das, CBGA noted that "the time has come to make sure that the process of deciding the revised estimates should go through the parliament and is discussed in the public domain, so that no executive authority can undermine the parliamentary process". Research studies by CBGA have indicated that the levels of fund utilization and the quality of expenditure in the social sector programmes can be improved significantly by addressing three kinds of problems, viz. poor quality of decentralized planning in schemes, delays in fund flow from the Centre, and inadequate institutional capacity due to shortage of human resources in social sectors.

Hence, the Union Government needs to initiate policy measures to address these systemic problems instead of cutting down fund allocations for social sector schemes. Speaking about this Praveen Jha, JNU, noted that "each of these cuts should be discussed in the public domain. So far, we have voices of distress from different social sector ministries." He went on to add that "the Finance Ministry has imposed these cuts without any justification, just to meet their fiscal deficit target of 4.1%".

On MGNREGA, there is clearly an unmet demand for funds in many States. 10 States have sought more resources from the Union Government in the last couple of months for this important programme. Hence, the problem of low fund utilization does not even apply to MGNREGA.

Dipa Sinha, Right to Food Campaign and Nikhil Dey, Jan Awaaz focused on the tremendous negative impact and sufferings the poor are going through in different sectors including Education, Health, Food Security and Employment. "People are without work or wages under MGNREGA and the Rs 3000 crore cut which is sought to be imposed is a gross violation of human rights".

In such a situation, the most obvious reason underlying these budget cuts could be the effort by the Union Ministry of Finance to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of GDP in the RE figures for 2014-15. As the GDP has been growing at a slower pace than expected, the targets set in the Union Budget for augmenting the tax revenue are unlikely to be met. In such a scenario, downsizing the allocations for social sector programmes seems to have been adopted by the Union Ministry of Finance as an easy option to still meet the fiscal deficit target for the year.

Reetika Khera, IIT Delhi, said "the Revised Estimates always disproportionately hit the poor and the social sector as a whole. India has poor tax-GDP ratio, which only gets worse through such a mode of fiscal management".

These proposed budget cuts also indicate the efforts by the new government for a reprioritization of spending from the Union Budget. The government could be trying to generate funds for some of the major initiatives announced in the last few months, like, the Smart Cities programme, Ganga Rejuvenation plan, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and infrastructure projects. Instead of pitting some development sectors against the other, in the sphere of distribution of the existing budgetary resources, the government should try to expand the size of the Union Budget (as a proportion of the GDP) by increasing the country's tax-GDP ratio.

Given their significant dependence on public provisioning of essential services, large numbers of the country's poor and underprivileged people would be adversely affected by the reduction in funds for social sector programmes. Hence, the government needs to protect the budget outlays for the social sector programmes in the current fiscal and step up the allocations for those in the budget for the next fiscal.

- Subrat Das (Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability) and Nikhil Dey (Jan Awaaz).

Please click here to access the detailed note on budget cuts in social sector.

--------------------------------------------

Against this background, thousands of workers, farmers, pensioners, slum dwellers and other underprivileged people belonging to different campaigns, movements, civil society and citizen groups will be gathering in New Delhi on 3 days to assert their rights to land, labour, employment, forests, information, food, education, healthcare, pensions, minorities and other economic and social rights under the umbrella rallying slogan ‘Abki baar, Humara Adhikar'.

 

Date: 30th November and 1st December 2014

Event: People's Assembly

Expected Participants: 300 campaign representatives from across India

Venue: Ambedkar Bhawan, Rani Jhansi Road, Near Jhandewalan metro station, New Delhi

Schedule: 10.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.

Format: Three sessions each day on 6 themes

1: Ensuring rights to social services and social security

2: Defending and expanding the rights of labour

3: Asserting people's control over natural resources

4: Defending democracy, ensuring accountability and transparency

5: Defending diversity and secularism, ensuring rights of minorities, social justice and gender equity

6: Developing convergence of movements, charting the way forward

 

Date: 2nd December 2014

Event: Rally and Public Meeting

Rallying Slogan: Abki Baar Humara Adhikar

Expected Participants: 10,000 - 15,000 workers, farmers, pensioners, slum dwellers and other underprivileged people and activists from more than 20 states

Route: Ambedkar Stadium to Parliament Street/Jantar Mantar

Venue: Ambedkar Stadium (Dariya Ganj, Near Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, New Delhi) and walk to Parliament Street/Jantar Mantar for day-long public meeting

Schedule: 10 a.m. assembly at Ambedkar Stadium. Public meeting at Parliament Street/Jantar Mantar from noon to 5.30

Invitees: Leaders from all political parties will be invited to commit their solidarity

Endorsing Organisations: Akhil Bhartiya Railway Khan-Pan Licensees Welfare Association, All India Agricultural Labourers Association (AIALA), All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA), All India Progressive Women Association (AISA), All India Secular Forum, Anhad, Bandhua Mukti Morcha, Bhavnagar Zila Gram Bachao Samiti, Campaign for Housing and Tenurial Rights (CHATRI), Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), CIVIC Bangalore, Chhattisgarh Kisan Majdoor Andolan, Communalism Combat, Ekta Parishad, Green Peace, ICAN, Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Campaign, Jan Swasth Abhiyan (JSA), Khet Mazdoor Sabha, Lok Ahwan Manch, Montfort Social Institute (MSI), National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), PADS, Pension Parishad, Rashtriya Mazdoor Adhikar Morcha (RMAM), Right To Food Campaign (RTFC), Saarthak Pehel and several others.

Press Release from Centre for Budget Analysis (CBGA) and Jan Awaaz, 29 November, 2014,


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org...

Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org...

"Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring...

"Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...

"Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...

Objectives | About Us | Workshops | Disclaimer
share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close