Business Standard

High on cash flow, moderate on targets

SOCIAL SECTOR

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BS Reporter New Delhi
If throwing money at the social sector is the index of performance, the UPA has surpassed itself in implementing the promises it made when it came to power.
 
Take education. Compared to 2001-02, financial outlays for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan increased fifteen-fold from Rs 665 crore and stood at Rs 10,671 crore in 2007-08.
 
The allocation for the Mid Day Meals programme stood at a staggering Rs 7,324 crore in 2007-08. An education cess levied paid for the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh set up to spread literacy at primary levels.
 
This was consistent with the UPA promise that it would raise public spending on education to at least 6 per cent of the GDP with at least half this amount being spent on primary and secondary schools. That the UPA government will introduce a cess on all Central taxes to finance access to quality basic education was also a promise made in the Common Minimum Programme.
 
But what should cause concern to UPA managers is the efficacy of expenditure. According to the Ministry of Human Resources Development (2006), there are 1.34 crore (6.9 per cent) children between the ages of 6 and 13 years, who continue to stay out of the school system. The jury is still out on the Mid Day Meals Scheme "" the Planning Commission is still studying its impact.
 
The centerpiece of the CMP commitments on education "" the Right to Education Bill "" is still pending. The Centre sent it to the states, seeking a broader consensus. But educationists say the Centre is merely trying to evade its responsibility.
 
The most important initiative of the UPA government in the social sector is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). It was launched in February 2006, and by December 2007, will have covered more than 1.4 crore households in 200 districts of the country.
 
But the scheme becomes suspect instantly, because in its outcome budget, the Ministry of Rural Development, while claiming that 3.47 crore job cards had been issued and employment provided to 1.51 crore households, said that in some cases, the targets for providing employment had been exceeded.
 
The prime minister was full of praise for a state like Bihar, which had managed to cover all its districts under the NREGS. But every day local newspapers carry reports about how the families of MLAs and in some cases, the lower bureaucracy, had availed of jobs cards and have registered under the NREGS, a scheme meant for families below the poverty line.
 
With great fanfare, the government also launched a massive public-private partnership deal called Bharat Nirman that envisaged providing infrastructural amenities with the collaboration of the private sector. But in most cases, the government has fallen short of reaching targets. Till December 2006, drinking water was provided to 55,512 habitations as against the target of 73,120 habitations.
 
Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, 15,482 km rural roads were completed as against the target of 27,250 km. 7.8 lakh rural houses were constructed against a 2006-07 target of 15 lakh.
 
Reviewing the financial performance of his ministry in the 10th Plan period, Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that as against the outlay of Rs 76,774 crore, the ministry released Rs 1,14,079.85 crore, "which is a huge increase of 48.6 per cent over the outlay." But where has the money gone? and to whom? The UPA government doesn't really know.

 
 

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First Published: May 23 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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