The flagship programmes of the UPA government in the social sector have had little impact. Spending has been between 25 and 75 per cent in many schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana, the rural housing scheme, the rural electrification scheme and the rural health programme. Irrigation statistics have come under scrutiny. Some education initiatives have managed to achieve physical targets but several NGOs have raised issues concerning the quality. National Rural Employment...

One of the big surprises in the 2011-2012 budget was that spending on the country’s landmark rural employment program remained flat, disappointing activists who see it as a way of redressing growing wealth disparities. The program has since 2006 guaranteed 100 days of work a year for unskilled laborers to build rural infrastructure like irrigation ditches and roads. The Congress party has made the program, known as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural...

Budget 2011-12 marks a sharp retreat of the government from the social and economic sectors. It has cut back expenditures in sectors that matter to common people, especially the poor. On the other hand, it has given huge concessions to the corporate sector in the form of tax cuts and exemptions. Let us take the overall fiscal stance of the budget. The underlying strategy is to reduce its fiscal deficit to...

In the pre-budget Economic Survey 2010-11, the Union finance ministry made a strong pitch for the pro-growth impact of investment in human capital adding, “fortunately, there is awareness of this in India and efforts are afoot in terms of budgetary allocation and actual initiatives to boost the development of skill and human capital.” Given this leading comment, it was only natural that Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee laid special emphasis...

For most schemes, the increases have been nominalThe Union Budget goes eloquent about the virtues of the flagship schemes of the UPA government but Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has kept a tight fist while allocating funds, whether for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) or those under the umbrella of Bharat Nirman.Though the finance minister referred to wages under the 100-day employment programme having being increased after being indexed...