Caution on flagship schemes,outlays see a meagre hike

Caught between the traditional urge of resorting to populism and narrowing down the fiscal deficit,finance minister Pranab Mukherjee chose the latter in the Budget for 2011-12.

Caught between the traditional urge of resorting to populism and narrowing down the fiscal deficit,finance minister Pranab Mukherjee chose the latter in the Budget for 2011-12. Contrary to expectations,he refrained from making ambitious outlays for flagship programmes en masse,with the sole exception being inflation-indexing of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) wages.

However,the finance minister did not offer any sops for MGNREGA. The Rs 40,000 crore allocation for the scheme in this Budget is,in fact,Rs 100 crore less than the sum allocated in the previous budgetary exercise. Similarly,allocation for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Missions (JNNURM) has been slashed by Rs 4,000 crore (from Rs 12,000 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 8,000 crore for next fiscal). In the case Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,aimed at ensuring free and compulsory education among children,Mukherjee has,however,increased monetary outlay to Rs 21,000 crore from Rs 15,000 allocated in the last Budget and Rs 13,100 crore in 2009-10.

The finance minister has hiked the outlay for health sector by 20 per cent to Rs 26,760 as against Rs 23,000 crore announced in the previous Budget. Among the health sector schemes,National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been allocated Rs 16,140.76 crore for the next fiscal. Meanwhile,the Mid-Day Meal scheme,too,witnessed a marginal increase in allocation for 2011-12 to Rs 9,210 crore as against Rs 8,393 crore.

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The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme,too,did not receive any major increase in its outlay,with the finance minister allocating Rs 8,964 crore for next fiscal as against Rs 8,340 crore allocated in the last years Budget. Allocation for the Indira Awaas Yojana,funded mostly from the National Investment Fund,has been kept almost the same as in last year at Rs 8,996 crore. The National Rural Livelihoods Mission has also been left with the same allocation as last years.

A Planning Commission official pointed out that with the Centre gradually unwinding the fiscal stimuli,by phasing out enhanced expenditure,Mukherjee couldnt have helped much. It is not that the flagship programmes are cash-starved. But,of course,we expected enhanced allocations in schemes like MGNREGA, the official said.

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