States welfare devpt spend takes a beating
Statistics Reveal Expenditure On Education And Health Has Been Shrinking Over Past 5 Years …..Nitin Yeshwantrao I TNN
Mumabi: Key areas of welfare and social development do not seem to be on the priority radar of the Democratic Front (DF) coalition, with the percentage of development funds progressively shrinking over the past five years.
A close look at the plan expenditure of five departmentsschool education and sports, higher and technical education, medical education, public health and water supply as well as sanitationvis-a-vis the states annual plan expenditure from 2002 to 2007 raises questions about the state governments commitment to welfare and social sector spending.
Public health, considered to be one of the fundamental functions of the state, seems to be in a state of neglect. This departments development expenditure has been slipping sharply. The number of beds in the state-run hospital has reduced to 90 for every one lakh population in 2006-07 as against 93 beds two years ago.
The health departments expenditure for development works as against the annual plan spending has been on a continuous decline. The health departments total spending in 2002-03 was 2.77% of the annual plan which fell to a dismal 1.77% in 2006-07. Medical education too suffers the same neglect with the departments plan expenditure in 2002-03 a pittance .32%, sliding down further low to .3% in 2006-07, a department official said.
Statistics reveal the health officials poor performance in development expenditure. The plans spending graph has been oscillating all along from Rs 209 crore in 2002-03, it progressed to Rs 303 crore in 2003-04 which fell to Rs 288 crore in 2004-05 and finally crashed further to Rs 277 crore in 2006-07. Ideally, it is expected that the health expenditure should be rising each passing year but the figures reveal a different picture, an official said.
A top official from the Pune-based Yeshwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHDA) said, The health services provided by the state are nothing to talk home about. In fact, the departments plan expenditure is inclusive of the Central funds such as National Rural Health Mission and other Centrally-sponsored programmes. Should one deduct the Central funds amount, it would give us the real picture about the health department.
Mantralaya officials, however, are quick to flaunt the budget books and said that the amount spent for development works by the five departments has seen a gradual increase in the past five years.
The school education departments plan expenditure has increased from Rs 167 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 599 crore in 2006-07. Ditto in case of higher and technical education where the department spent Rs 303 crore in 2006-07 as against a Rs 36 crore in 2002-03, a senior official said.
Disputing the numbers, the YASHDA official said, The amount may appear to be good but the fact remains that the state governments plan expenditure on elementary schooling is less than 4% of its total plan spending. Also, if one were to discount the Central funds coming to the state under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other schemes, then the percentage as well the amount allocated by the state would slide down further.
Equally casual seems to be the DF policy-planners outlook towards water supply and sanitation in general, where the percentage of plan funds expenditure dropped from 8.73% in 2002-03 to 4.52% in 2006-07.
The state government is expected to provide a safe and regular supply of water and the departments expenditure should be increasing with the rise in the state population. However, budget books point to a different story with departments expenditure reducing every year.
The highest expenditure was in 2006-07 when the department spent Rs 709 crore or 4.53% of the total plan size. Prior to that the spending were Rs 417 crore (3.21%) in 2005-06, Rs 243 crore (2.48%) in 2004-05 and Rs 532 crore (6.50%) in 2003-04 and Rs 658 crore (8.73%) in 2002-03. It shows an absence of proper planning and the lack of a futuristic approach to deal with such a crucial sector, the YASHDA official said.
Much of the state expenditure goes in poorly-conceived infrastructure projects such as the irrigation projects or to fund populist announcements such as the continuation of the cotton procurement scheme or free power to farmers, which won them votes. The expanded debt, leaves the state with no other options, but to reduce spending on social sector and welfare programmes, he added.