 "Budget 2016: Social sector seeks health budget increase from FM")
Representatives of the social sector met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team of senior policymakers on Tuesday for consultations ahead of the Union budget 2016-17.
The various non-government organisations and social sector interest groups present at the meeting requested for a big increase in health budget and increase in Sin taxes on petroleum and alcohol products.
The social sector representatives also sought an increase in allocation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
“We have sought from the Finance Minister an increase in the health budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP,” Bhavna Mukhopadhyay of the Voluntary Health Association of India told reporters after the meeting. Currently, the combined total of various health scheme allocations is less than 1 per cent of GDP.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian had suggested a Sin Tax of 40 per cent in his GST report, on products such as alcohol, tobacco and aerated soft drinks.
Mathew Cherian of HelpAge India suggested an increase in allocation of NREGA by at least Rs 5,000 crore. Jaitley had allocated Rs 34,000 crore for the scheme in the 2015-16 budget and later allocated Rs 8,000 crore extra in the first supplementary demand of grants.