UNION BUDGET 2020-21 How Much Responsive towards Development of Marginalised Sections

The Union Budget 2020-21 was presented at a time when the country is facing economic slowdown in terms of lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth, decline in private consumption and high employment rate. It was expected that the government would address the high unemployment rate and stagnating real income faced by large sections of the population, including marginalised communities. As we know that the budget supposes to provide clear policy direction and targeted priorities of the government for reviving the economy.

In this backdrop the immediate recovery of the economy requires reviving private consumption demand (and investment demand) by putting money into the hands of the people. However, the slowdown in GDP growth has a negative impact in the increase in the tax revenue collection. Therefore, the budget should have focused on not only expanding the fiscal deficit beyond a limit, augmenting resources becomes crucial as less than commensurate revenue mobilisation has adverse implications for public spending. There is a steady decline in the growth rate of actual tax collection over the past four years, the Union Budget 2020-21 has projected a high growth of 12 per cent for the next year.

India’s commitment towards implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has to be achieved by 2030, for which development of social and economic sectors is crucial. To achieve the SDGs, the public services such as healthcare, education, nutrition and others have to be provided for entire population. For providing basic services, adequate public spending on social sectors and efficiency in the delivery systems are critical. Given the acute shortage of human resources and basic infrastructure, questions about resource adequacy for the social sectors cannot be ignored. The total public spending of 6.43 per cent of GDP is available for social sectors (Centre and States combined), 3.1 per cent of GDP is the spending towards education. The quantum of Union Government’s health budget as proportion of GDP remains stagnant at 0.3 per cent, while its share in the total Union Budget has fallen marginally from 2.4 per cent in 2019-20 (BE) to 2.3 per cent in 2020-21 (BE).

The budgetary priority has remained poor towards several marginalised groups like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Persons with Disabilities, Transgender Persons and Religious Minorities. Further, there is need for improving not only the responsiveness of budgeting for schemes related to marginalised population but also reform in the policy design itself. One of the primary challenges of looking at any such population group is the fact that their needs and concerns are multi-dimensional and intersecting and involve not one but a number of different government departments and implementation entities.

SDGs call for an inclusive, democratic and equitable society with an aim to leave no one behind. In the same spirit, the national and sub-national governments need to place a greater focus on the marginalised through a multi-pronged approach of adequate public provisioning, effective and timely utilisation of available resources and strengthening the institutions responsible for implementing government programmes. It is only through such a holistic approach that India can move towards achieving the Sustainable Development agenda with regard to SCs, STs and Muslims. These gaps in budgetary provisions for Muslims, SCs and STs show that there is a long way to go to build a compassionate and ‘Caring Society’, keeping the specific requirements of the poorest and the most marginalised sections of the society in focus.

Table1 : Union Budget Allocation/Expenditure for Select Social Sectors Ministries/Departments

(Rs. crore)

Source: Compiled by CBGA from Union Budget Documents, various years.

Religious minorities, particularly Muslims, require special attention in the area of educational and economic empowerment. Budgets for their development are allocated by the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) and the Department of School Education (Madrasa Modernisation Programmes), but despite the Muslims constituting 21 per cent of the total population as per census 2011, a negligible 0.17 per cent of the total outlay of Union Budget 2020-21 has been earmarked for them. Development indices of the minorities have remained poor, largely due to low allocation and poor utilisation of funds. Poor utilisation of funds happens because of various reasons such as non-submission of proposals by the states on time and procedural delays in their approval, delays in construction work, non-payment of honorarium to teachers in madrasas, poor coverage of scholarship beneficiaries along with low unit cost of scholarship.

MoMA proposes to spend Rs.5,029 crore in 2020-21 (a 7 per cent increase of over the budget for 2019-20) with priority accorded to education empowerment (50.27 per cent), area development programmes (31.28 per cent), skill development (12 per cent) and allocation for support to institutions and special needs (5.9 per cent). However, the Centre has not introduced any new programmes or schemes for the welfare of the minorities nor have they chalked out a comprehensive plan of implementation of the existing ones.

Budget Allocation and Utilisation by Ministry of Minority Affairs

In 2019-20, the ministry made a demand of Rs. 5,795.26 crore but was allocated only Rs. 4,700 crore. Of this Rs.4,700 crore (allocated in both 2019-20 and 2018-19), MoMA was only able to utilise Rs.3,564.17 crore (75.8 per cent) in 2018-19 and Rs. 1,291 crore (27.4 per cent) up to October 2019. Funds amounting to Rs.1135.8 crore, which could not be utilised, were surrendered by the ministry during the year 2018-19. The underutilisation of funds was more marked in important schemes relating to education and skill development.

Table 2: Budget Allocation and Utilisation

by Ministry of Minority Affairs (Rs. crore)

Note: @ As on 30 October, 2019

Source: Note on Demand for Grants, MoMA, 2020-21 and Departmentally Standing Committee on Social Justice- Demand for Grants, Ministry of Minority Affairs 2019-20

The expenditure incurred by the ministry (in 2019-20) for different schemes was 27 per cent till October 31, 2019, which means 73 per cent of the allocations was to be utilised in the remaining four months. The routine reasons given by MoMA to the standing committee include receipt of lesser than expected proposals from States/UTs/Central Waqf Council, lower number of beneficiaries identified under Post-Matric/Merit-cum-Means scholarship schemes, unspent balances with Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF). Some other reasons cited by the ministry were less receipt of proposals/demands from the University Grants Commission (UGC), Free Coaching, Hamari Dharohar, Nai Manzil and  non-signing of Memoranda of Understanding with Programme Implementing Agencies of Skill Development scheme due to imposition of the Election Code of Conduct. Following shows that quarter-wise expenditure plan.

Table 3: Quarterly Expenditure Plan and Releases/

Expenditure by MoMA in 2019-20 (Rs. in crore)

Note: @ As on 30 October, 2019

Source: Departmentally Standing Committee on Social Justice- Demand for Grants, Ministry of Minority Affairs 2019-20

Challenges in Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK)

PMJVK is an area development scheme introduced by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government that includes projects to be taken up through the state governments/Union Territories for improvement of the infrastructure in education, health, skill development, etc.

Table 4: Budget Allocation for Major Scheme under Ministry of Minority Affairs (Rs. crore)

Source: Note on Demand for Grants, MoMA

The major reasons cited by MoMA for unspent funds under the scheme are non-availability of free land as well as lack of basic facilities such as electricity and water that are pre-requisites for early and smooth implementation of the construction projects. Moreover, the states/UTs have not followed procedural formalities mentioned in PMJVK in a time-bound manner required for award of work to the implementing agencies. Neither have there been review meetings on the progress or monitoring of the utilisation of funds by states/district concerned. Under PMJVK, not a single project was approved in 2018-19 in Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Table 5: Status of Unspent Balance under

Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (Rs. crore)

Note: #Figures include value of funds released in the last financial year for which Utilisation Certificate is not yet due.

Source: Departmentally Standing Committee on Social Justice- Demand for Grants, Ministry of Minority Affairs 2019-20

Issues and Challenges in Implementation of Scholarship Schemes

The Pre-matric, Post-matric and Merit-cum-Means scholarship schemes are plagued with implementation issues with regard to poor coverage of beneficiaries and low unit cost. The MoMA has fixed targets for fresh applications of these scholarships at 30 lakh, 5 lakh and Rs. 60,000 respectively. A total of 73.37 lakh and 44.60 lakh applications were received for the Pre-matric scholarship during 2018-19 and 2019-20 (up to September 2019) respectively. Similarly, 17.45 lakh and 9.36 lakh applications were received for the Post-matric scholarship during the same period respectively. The Union Government announced that it would provide one crore scholarships annually under the umbrella scholarship programme. However, it is less than the current total number of applications received annually by ministry (Departmentally Standing Committee on Social Justice- Demand for Grants, Ministry of Minority Affairs 2019-20).

The Standing Committee raised concerns about the inadequacy in the unit cost of Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and Merit-cum-means scholarships given to the students. The unit cost for scholarships has not been revised since the introduction of the schemes in 2007-08. The amount is too less compared to the rate. Only Rs.1,000 per annum is given to day-scholars in Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme. The scheme for Post-Matric Scholarship provides financial support of Rs.7,000 per annum in terms of admission and tuition fees for classes XI and XII and maintenance allowance of Rs.380 a month and Rs. 230 a month for hostellers and day-scholars respectively. A total of 85 institutes for professional and technical courses have been listed under the scheme. Eligible students from the minority communities admitted to these institutions are reimbursed the full course fee. A course fee of Rs.20,000 an annum is reimbursed to students studying in other institutions. Students are also provided maintenance allowances of Rs.500 a month for day-scholars and Rs.1, 000 a month for hostellers. There are also proposals for making family income the sole eligibility criteria for scholarships and for doing away with the 50 per cent marks in the previous class criteria (Departmentally Standing Committee on Social Justice- Demand for Grants, Ministry of Minority Affairs 2019-20).

Budget Allocation and Utilisation under Umbrella Programme for Development of Minorities

The umbrella programme covers the Education Scheme for Madrasas and Minorities Access and Equity. It has seen an increase in allocation to Rs.220 crore in 2020-21(BE) from Rs.120 crore in 2019-20 (BE). In 2018-19, Rs. 18.4 crore (15.3 per cent) was utilised out of the allocated Rs.120 crore. It is due to this poor utilisation of funds that teachers in madrasas have not been paid honoraria and there have been delays in construction work.

Despite the grave need for educational and economic empowerment of minorities, the chronic issues with regard to adequacy of budget allocations and under-utilisation of funds persist. The Union Government should make scholarship schemes for minorities demand-driven looking at the current total number of applications received. There is also a need to increase the quantum of allocations and utilisation of the same for minorities. Unit cost for scholarship schemes for minorities should be increased and made inflation indexed.