Modi Government 2.0: Expenditure On Education And Health Stoops Low
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government in its second tenure has given only a small portion to the field of education and health, a Business Standard report points out. One-third of the total expenditure has been allocated to interest payments, and major subsidies such as food, fuel, and fertiliser, and another 12 per cent were given to securing borders and maintaining law and order.
In the first year (2019-20 or FY20) of Modi government“s second term, expenditure on health was around 2.4 per cent. But, in the last two financial years, i.e., 2022-23 (Revised Estimates or RE) and 2022-23 (Budget Estimates, or BE), the expenditure fell down below 2 per cent.
Similarly, while allocation to education during 2019–20 was 3.3 per cent, it came down to 2.4–2.5 per cent in the ongoing and previous financial years. If pension be added as a safety net, expenditure on three matters (education, health, and pension) has reduced to 9.7-10 per cent during 2023 and 2024, in comparison to 12 per cent in the financial year 2020. Besides, it should be realised that expenditure on pension implies majorly to central government employees, even though there are pension schemes for vulnerable population like as in unorganised sector.
French-American economist and professor Emmanuel Saez on a research note titled “Social State” in a magazine of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) observed that until the early 20th century, majority of the government spending in Europe was focused on an array of public goods such as law and order and national defence, among many others. After 20th century, Saez argues that in advanced economies the growth of government was entirely due to advancements in “social state”, which gives education, childcare support for the young, health care for the sick, retirement benefits for the old, and many other forms of income support.
As the Centre”s expenditure on education and health stooped low, food subsidy increased during Covid-hit 2020-21, and it can be considered as “an indication of the social state,” Business Standard added. In the first Covid year, expenditure on food subsidy was conferred 15.42 per cent, but in the subsequent years it lowered to 7.6 per cent in 2021-22, and 6.85 per cent in 2022-23, and 4.38 per cent this financial year. The subsidy, 4.04 per cent proposed for 2024 is same as in the pre-Covid year, 2019-20.
“However, its RE is likely to further rise as the government extended free food grains to 800 million people for the next five years, including the last quarter of 2023-24,” Business Standard adds. There are schemes run by the government for farmers which includes PM-Kisan, and for poor women such as Ujjwala, it added.
(With inputs from Business Standard)
