Aam Admi Budget bypasses children: CRY

Kolkata, July 9 : The Union Budget 2009-10 shies away from key allocations to education, health, and child protection, said CRY - Child Rights and You.

Despite being plugged as citizen-friendly, scratching the surface of the budget throws up three key shortfalls, said a CRY release.

The shortfalls include:

Public expenditure on schooling falls short for the number of children entering school-going age every year

No new money allocated to realise the proposed Food Security Act. Without a holistic approach to food, there is no guarantee that children will grow up food secure

The promise to universalise ICDS has been long-standing and while the increased allocation to Rs. 6,705 crores for the ICDS – Integrated Child Development Scheme, is welcome, the impact on the ground can take years to materialise.

In short, the actual increase in expenditure on children is just Rs 5,100 crores: approximate 14% increase that will hardly cover the number of children added to the population each year. (Table 1 - Outlays for Child-Specific schemes as a proportion of the central budget)

“Most developed countries in the world like the USA, UK and France spend around 6-7% of their national budgets for public education and health, while India allocates around 3% for education and around 1% for health. When we emulate first-world economic growth, we must realise that economic growth is meaningless unless it reaches 70% of India’s poorest,” said Dipankar Majumdar, Director, CRY. (Table 2- Public Spending on Education and Health: An International Comparison) “For a country that is firmly on a growth path, a decrease in public spending on education and health from 1999-2000 to now, is regressive,” he says. (Table 3 – Public Expenditure on Education)

The total allocation for school education and health is well below the need for 10% of GDP to be allocated to school education and health. Public spending on basic rights is not just good policy, but also good economics, feels Majumdar, since an educated, healthy India will enable a robust economy.

“Given the UPA’s people-friendly appearance, an example of which is the increased outlay for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), we expect the government to live up to its potential,” says Majumdar. “The central government’s allocation for 40% of India’s population – its children – remains at 5.09% and it is clear that State budget allocations will not make up for the needs,” said Majumdar.

The government’s Aam Aadmi image need to be backed up by not just allotment, but by a push on utilisation, feels CRY.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has rapped the government in early 2009 for SSA funds that were returned unutilised. Allocations, not backed by usage, remains an empty promise.

Not just sanctioning new ICDS centres, but making them operational and staffed by trained personnel. Even the better developed states like Gujarat and Maharashtra have been unable to operationalise all the sanctioned anganwadis.