Social sector: The focus of Budget 2022 is on effective implementation

The government has continued with earlier policies, schemes and extent of outlays, without attempting radical shifts or transformations

Post-pandemic and the first hard lockdown, the government and the finance minister have been responding continuously to evolving challenges and priorities. Interim policy and scheme announcements have taken the thunder and surprise from the Union Budget 2023. Therefore, Union Budget 2022-23 should not be evaluated on any major policy shift or transformative agenda, but on how it is consolidating based on scenario analysis and real-time outcomes.

By not making too many changes for most programmes, the Budget for the social sector has continued with earlier policies, schemes and extent of allocations, without making any radical shift in most sectors. It does focus on effective implementation and optimising resources. However, it misses out on acknowledging the plight of vulnerable sections and the steep social and human development inequalities which has widened post-pandemic.  

Food subsidies saw a steep rise of 400 per cent from FY20 to FY21, from Rs 1.09 trillion to Rs 5.4 trillion for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, introduced in response to Covid-19 and the pre-payment to Food Corporation of India. The subsidies on food, fertilisers and petroleum are estimated to decline by 39 per cent in FY22 and further by 28 per cent during FY23, at approximately Rs 3 trillion. The actual subsidy requirement would be dependent on the pace of rebound, rural resilience and creation of employment in the economy in coming few months.

Nutrition

The slow-paced improvement in the nutritional indicators (stunting and underweight) among children below five years of age in the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) and the fall in country-wise ranking (94 in 2020 to 101 in 2021) on the Global Hunger Index indicates the state of nutrition in India. In this light, an increase of a meagre 1.3 per cent in the budgetary allocation for the Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 over the Rs 20,105 crore (BE) in FY22 reflects a gap between spending priorities of the government and the required inputs towards improving nutrition outcomes.

Health

While the overall allocation for health has marginally increased, the distribution of allocations within the sector budget indicates a focus towards inclusion and resilience. Quantum leaps have been made in the budgetary allocation of two schemes - National Digital Health Mission (166 per cent) and PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (473 per cent), reaffirming the push towards developing digital ecosystems for delivering quality health services. PM Jan Arogya Mission (PMJAY) has an increased allocation by 100 per cent to enhance services for poor and vulnerable sections. The attainment of 27.3 million hospital admissions in more than 25,000 hospitals (public and private) under PMJAY (as of January 2022) is an encouraging development towards universalisation of public health services.

The announcement on National Tele-mental Health Programme is a progressive step to address the issue of mental well-being accentuated by the pandemic. However, the allocation for the National Mental Health Programme is just Rs 40 crore, a quantum similar to the previous budget, and may not be sufficient for the cause.

Rural livelihoods

MGNREGS actual expenditure, which peaked in FY21, is expected to dip by 12 per cent this year. However, it is much higher than the budgeted Rs 73,000 crore. The exhaustion of funds in the middle of FY22 impacted rural and migrant workers’ payments and additional allocations were made mid-year. The current Budget allocation is 26 per cent lower than the projected expenditure for FY22, notwithstanding the observations made in the Economic Survey 2021-22 that the demand for work under the scheme is higher than the pre-pandemic level. Further, taking into account the current per-person per-day average cost of Rs 298, the allocations will be sufficient to provide employment for only 25 days to the 99.4 million active card holders compared to 48 days in FY20.   

Around 15 per cent of the fund allocated for the National Rural Livelihood Mission remained unutilised in FY22. With roughly the same budget allocation in FY23, strengthening of strategic and implementation frameworks may help ensure wider and efficient coverage of benefits to the rural poor through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services. A special allotment under the scheme for the North-East region was introduced in FY22 and is being continued for FY23.

A positive development for MSMEs is the extension of the stimulus measure, the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), to revive their fortunes. With a large population of informal workforce linked to these MSMEs, it would benefit livelihood and employment creation.

Education

The total budget for the ministry of education has been increased by 18.5 per cent. The flagship scheme Samagra Shiksha has a 25 per cent increased allocation at Rs 37,383 crore (from Rs 30,000 crore in FY22) which will assist in operationalising systemic reforms as endorsed by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. However, the Budget does not provide detailed inter se allocations across various initiatives required as part of the NEP, such as universalisation of early childhood care and education, foundational literacy and numeracy by FY25, teacher training and vocational education in schools.

Some noteworthy initiatives include New India Literacy Programme (NILP) in lieu of Padhna Likhna Abhiyan (PLA) scheme for adult Education, with an allocation of Rs 127 crore; and the Exemplar Scheme that would establish 15,000 Schools of Excellence as exemplars, in line with the NEP.

In response to unequitable digital access and the need to build resilient delivery models, the government has announced expansion of the One-Class-One-TV Channel programme of PM eVidya from 12 to 200 TV channels, to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12. However, the budget for the Digital India e-learning Scheme is only 14.6 per cent higher than the revised estimates in FY22.

The Budget includes some progressive announcements, such as opening of the GIFT city to world-class foreign universities and institutions free from domestic regulations; a proposal to set up a digital university in collaboration with best educational institutions as a network of hub-and-spokes. Further, with the focus on STEM, 750 virtual labs and 75 skilling e-labs with simulated environment for vocational courses will be established to promote critical thinking skills.

Skill Development

The flagship short-term skill development training scheme of the government, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), has seen low uptake in the last two years due to Covid-19-induced closure of centres. The current year’s allocation is marginally (3 per cent) higher than revised estimats for FY22. The need for focus on digitising delivery of skill development training and simulation models was felt during the last two years and this is reflected in the government’s announcement to set-up a Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood – the DESH-Stack e-portal. This is definitely a welcome move aligned to future skills requirements.

The continued focus on increasing industry partnerships and improving quality in skill training is reflected in the 13 per cent increase in allocation for National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) to provide apprenticeship opportunities to graduate engineers, diploma holders and 12th vocational pass-outs. The government has increased the budget for ‘Strengthening of Skilling Institutions’ by 67 per cent. The intention is to develop industry-relvant content and improve the quality of vocational training through public institutions like National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI), Central Staff Training and Research Institute (CSTARI) and Indian Institute of Skills.

The budget’s push on infrastructure development through the PM GatiShakti scheme will create job opportunities in all sub-segments of the transport and logistics sector, and will require a concerted push to develop a skilled talent pool that can enable economic growth.

Social justice, empowerment and tribal affairs 

The overall allocation for the department of social justice and empowerment has increased by 17 per cent over FY22 revised estimates. Within the overall allocations, share for pension schemes for senior citizens, widows and empowerment of persons with disabilities, are maintained at the past year’s level.

The ministry of tribal welfare saw a downward trend in the expenditure for this fiscal by 17 per cent. For FY23, the Budget allocation is 35 per cent higher, compared to FY22 revised estimates. The Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikas Mission saw a huge allocation, to provide employment opportunities to tribals in remote, Maoist-infested areas. PMJVM will be an amalgamation of a number of existing schemes (Marketing of Minor Forest Produce, Development of Value Chain for MFP) for a more targeted approach to generate employment for tribals in villages and will focus on the 100 most backward tribal-dominated districts.