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