While the interim Budget 2024-25 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has to be complimented for its continued focus on infrastructure investment and its will to contain fiscal deficit, the surprising lack of its intent to usher in foundational learning and vocational education in Government schools, inadequate allocation to improve healthcare infrastructure and containing rising anaemia levels among children and women are extremely disappointing. While it leaves no stone unturned to decry the Congress Government on every count, it fails to realize that be it HDI (Human Development Index), GII (Gender Inequality Index) or GHI (Global Hunger Index), its track record in the human development parameters, IMR (Infant Mortality Rate), MMR (Maternal Mortality), MDPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index) and women representation in Parliament continues to be equally unedifying.
Like a bad workman quarrelling with his tools, the Modi mandarins find flaws with the data from these independent agencies or hound officials at the helm of organizations like IIPS bringing out the disquieting discourse on hunger and nutrition in their NFHS V report.
First, the genuine achievements of the Government must be put on record. From 12% allocation to capital expenditure out of total Central Government expenditure during the Manmohan Singh Government Budget (2012), it has now gone up to 23% under Modi. As % of GDP, it has swelled from 1.7% to 3.4% of GDP as recommended by the Deepak Parekh Committee, a decade back. The prime beneficiaries in the allocation priority have been roads, railways, and defence. The 2023-24 Budget witnessed a whooping increase of 23% over the previous year’s budget and this year 11%. This will have a Keynesian multiplier effect, in terms of overall output increase and generation of additional employment. The allocation for the MGNREGA programme, which creates work and ensures minimal livelihood for nearly 113.7 million households who are unskilled workers is praiseworthy. The allocation was nearly 40% above the previous year. The carping critics must note at the height of Covid 19 and the massive migration of nearly 50 million workers, the FM put an additional allocation into MGNREGA to bail out these beleaguered migrants. Besides 10.11 crore free gas cylinders to women (Ujjwala), 11.72 toilets (Swachh Bharat), tap water to 10.82 crore households (Jal Jeevan), 6.27 crore poor families having hospital care under the Ayushman Bharat scheme and 2.6 crore pucca houses built are humongous achievements. While many of these programmes were mooted during the UPA regime, they were moribund and galvanized and energized during Modi’s decade-long governance.
While the Budget 24-25 claims that 25 crore people have moved out of the MDPI, the SDG report says that 21.3% are still suffering from malnutrition, 26.2% are deprived of clean cooking fuel, and nearly 24.6% have poor sanitation. Chronic malnutrition and poor sanitation are the prime causes of stunting among children (34.7%). Even amongst the comity of underdeveloped countries like Sub-Saharan Africa, India is very lowly positioned. The NFHS survey found 50.4% of women are anaemic. The HDR (2022) report says India’s MMR is as high as 137 out of 1 lakh, while most developed countries have single digits. IMR is still very high at 28.3 per 1,000 which is way higher than single digit in most developed countries. This is despite the Constitutional mandate in Article 47 that it is the duty of the State ‘to raise the level of nutrition’ and Article 15(3) which enjoins upon the State ‘to make special provision for women and children.’
While there have been a slew of programmes geared to supplement nutrition requirements of children and pregnant and nursing mothers under Indira Gandhi’s ICDS in 1975 and lately under Modi under Poshan (2019), the allocation to women and child development programme is a measly Rs 25,848 cr (a mere 4% increase over previous Budget), the picture is equally disturbing in the Poshan programme, where the allocation is only Rs 15,047 crore, a 4% increase over the previous year. Sadly, the allocation to Anganwadi Centre (22 lakh) catering to nutrition, basic healthcare and early childhood education and care of children accounting for 70 million children and 10 million pregnant and nursing mothers has been brought down from Rs 21,948 crore to Rs 21,200 crore for next year. If inflation of around 6% is taken into account, there is a real dip in the allocation of critical nutrition intervention programmes. Quite clearly, nutrition is a low priority area for Modi, despite the rhetoric for Anaemia Mukt Bharat and bolstering Nari Shakti! In the Budget 2022-23, Sitaraman had promised to upgrade 2 lakh Anganwadi Centres. There was no commensurate Budget to resuscitate the rickety and leaky Anganwadi Centres. In the present Budget, there is a repeat of the same promise without any additional allocation. The gap between intent and allocation could not have been more glaring and ironical.
The saddest omission in the Budget is its lack of any reference to the wonderful National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which sets a credible roadmap for foundational learning, vocational training, and early childhood education. One of the ironies of the 86th amendment to the Constitution in 2002 was to make schooling from the age of 6-14 a fundamental right (21A) and early childhood education, a nonjusticiable directive (45). The NEP rightly notes the dismal early childhood care and education and suggests proper training of the Anganwadi workers and improvement of infrastructure to ensure that foundation learning in terms of elementary reading, writing, and numeracy is ensured by the time a child reaches grade 3. This is in the backdrop of scathing ASER survey reports which point to very low levels of foundational learning. The latest ASER 2023 also brings out how vocational training is being imparted for students in the age group of 13-16. This was a major recommendation by the NEP.
While gloating over the increase in the number of IITs and IIMs, Sitharaman conveniently forgets that without quality school education, our hopes of reaping demographic dividend through a young working population can be a disaster, without the foundation of quality learning at the Government school level, which the bottom 50% of Indian parents can’t afford. The allocation to school education has gone down from Rs 54,100 crore last year to Rs 57,427 crore next year, an increase of less than 6%. Education expenditure as % of GDP remains around 3% against the recommendation of the Kothari Committee to 6% way back in 1966 and reiterated by the NEP 2020. Prof Sen has stressed on improving access to quality education as part of the fundamental right of every child, and giving priority to 6% allocation of GDP to education. However, it has fallen on deaf ears, from socialist Nehru to free market Modi. Allocation against health missions also shows a similar depressing trend, from Rs 47,347 crore to Rs 42,281crore for next year. The irony of Sitharaman’s Budget is a complete misalignment between allocation on economic infrastructure and social infrastructure. This structural mismatch needs to be fixed.
(Dr Misra is Professor Emeritus and a development economist)