 "PM Modi")
During its tenure from 2004 to 2014, the UPA government could not spend almost 6.4 per cent of the Budget earmarked for the schemes in social and rural sectors amounting to almost Rs 94,060 crore due to poor planning and execution.
In contrast, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government’s 10-year rule, less than a per cent of the cumulative Budget earmarked for the sector has been left unspent, according to the White Paper on the Indian economy tabled in the Parliament on Thursday.
Delivery of welfare under the Modi government has been efficient, effective, and empowering, the paper said.
It said during the 10-year rule of the Modi government, the amount unspent meant for schemes in social and rural sectors was just around Rs 37,064 crore, while the same during the UPA regime was around Rs 94,060 crore.
“Our government has resolved the execution challenges that plagued the UPA government by implementing technology-based targeting and monitoring mechanisms. The government used technology as a vehicle of social empowerment and unlocked the potential of JAM Trinity, i.e., Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile,” it said.
It said that the persistent efforts of the government to reach the last mile through the effective utilisation of Aadhaar has facilitated the transfer of over Rs 34 lakh crore to more than 1,167 crore beneficiaries under DBT.
Our government's transformative and decisive approach culminated in a much better track record of programme delivery than its predecessor,” it noted.
The Modi government has also utilised behavioral change and social capital through the ‘Swach Bharat Mission’ and ‘Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao’ and similar schemes.
The dynamism of women’s collectives has been harnessed through Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) and the programme has been upscale substantially covering 9.9 crore women from rural households into 89.8 lakh SHGs,” it said.
It added that the emergence of “Bank Sakhis” and “Lakhpati Didis” is an outcome of programme innovation and building ownership in communities.
The paper said that the Modi government in the last decade has innovated the delivery infrastructure besides widening the social security net.
“For instance, the seamless portability of ration cards across states through ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ now expanded to the entire NFSA population across the country, and creation of a national database of unorganized workers ‘eShram portal’ are path-breaking reforms for the welfare of migrant workers,” the White Paper said.
The progress of the path-breaking Ayushman Bharat programme, with nearly 22 crore beneficiaries, is being further tech-enabled through digital health IDs ‘ABHA’ and telemedicine through e-Sanjeevani, it added.
“Besides substantially improving upon the UPA government’s programme delivery, our government also undertook several policy innovations to tap India’s development potential. The emphasis on entrepreneurship through Start-Up India, Stand-Up India, large-scale provision of accessible credit through Mudra Yojana, upskilling of SHGs, and loans to street vendors through PM-SVANidhi, reflects our government’s focus on empowering job-creators from all sections of society,” the paper said.
For farmers, the White Paper said the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi empowered farmers and improved their incomes without hurting the borrower-lender relationship.
“The UPA’s Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWD) also commonly known as the farm loan waiver scheme had ended up hurting the flow of credit to farmers. In contrast, our Kisan Samman Nidhi strengthened the ability of the farmers to repay their loans. This is the key difference in our approach to welfare,” it added.
