QUICK COMMENTS
At 11 AM this morning the Finance Minister
presented Union Budget2018-19 to the country. He presented it as the budget for
#NewIndia. India’s 37% children (below the age of 18 years) are part of this
new India. “Madam, while making the proposals in this year’s Budget, we have
been guided by our mission to especially strengthen agriculture, rural development,
health, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors of Indian
economy. I am sure the New India which we aspire to create now will emerge”
Budget Speech by Shri Arun Jaitley As always, the allocations for children are
presented in Statement 12 of the Expenditure Budget (this used to be Statement
22 till 2016-17). Inclusion of new
schemes in Statement 12 in 2018-19
It is interesting to see how the number of
ministries and the number of schemes that are getting added into the Statement
every year. This year’s additions are from the Ministry of Culture and
includes:
·
Central Institute
of Buddhist Studies
·
Central Institute
of Higher Tibetan Studies
·
Central Institute
of Himalayan Culture Studies
·
Promotion of Arts
and Culture
·
Zonal Cultural
Centres
How any
of them fit into budget for children remains a mystery!
Additionally there is an inclusion from the
Ministry of Science and Technology- INSPIRE AWARD (MANAK).
Fall in share for children despite new
schemes included in Statement 12
Despite the inclusion of the new schemes,
there is a fall in the over all share for children in 2018-19 budget. In fact,
there has been a consistent fall in the share and one of the reasons attributed
to this has been the fiscal devolution that puts the onus of allocating budgets
for child related schemes to the states.
Sectoral Share for Children in the
Union Budget
As always, Education has received the largest
share and Protection the least and the share remains the same as last year
(0.05%). This despite an almost 12 percent increase in Child Protection Scheme
in 2018-19.
The Finance Minister in his speech said- Only
Swasthya Bharat (healthy India) can be Sammriddha Bharat (Prosperous India).
And yet, the share of allocations for child health in the budget does not
reflect that. In fact, the share of child health has only fallen over the years
only to increase by one percentage point this year. The share of education
sector for children within the Union Budget has also seen a decrease despite
the increase in allocations for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Rashtriya Madhyamik
Shiksha Abhiyaan.
Increase in Allocations in the Budget
·
There is an 11.8
% increase in the budget for Ministry of Women and Child Development.
·
Some of the
important schemes for children that have seen a welcome increase are:
·
There
is a welcome 100% increase in National Nutrition Mission in the light of the
fact that the
World Bank has estimated that India is one of the highest-ranking countries in
the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition. According to
the World Bank, the prevalence of underweight children in India is among the
highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub Saharan Africa. Moreover,
the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report ranked India 97th out of 118
countries with a serious hunger situation. Amongst South Asian nations, it
ranks third behind only Afghanistan and Pakistan with a GHI score of 29.0
("serious situation").
·
There is 11.2% increase in the allocation for
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan. It would
be pertinent· to ask how much of this will come from the
increased cess (now 4%) and how much will be from the government’s existing
resources?
·
The
small increase in Rashtriya Madhamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) is particularly
worrying
in the light of the findings of the
ASER report this year which has concentrated on the 14- 18year age group and
found :
·
About 25% of this
age group still cannot read basic text fluently in their own language.·
·
53% of all 14 year-olds in the sample can read
English sentences. For 18 year-old youth, this figure is closer to 60%. Of
those who can read English sentences, 79% can say the meaning of the sentence.
·
Even among youth
in this age group who have completed eight years of schooling, a significant
proportion still lack foundational skills like
reading and math.
·
The enrollment
gap between males and females in the formal education system increases with age.
·
There is hardly
any difference between boys’ and girls’ enrollment at age 14; but at age 18,
32% females are not enrolled as compared to 28% males.
·
A substantial
proportion of youth in the 14-18 age group are working (42%), regardless of
whether they are enrolled in formal education or not. Of those who work, 79% work
in agriculture – almost all on their own family’s farm. Also, more than three
quarters of all youth do household chores daily – 77 % of males and 89% of
females.
·
There is only a
very small increase of 5% in Mid-day meal scheme.
·
The 11.9 %
increase in the Child Protection Scheme is indeed welcome, especially since
child protection continues to receive the
least share of the resources.
Some
of the schemes that have seen a reduction in allocations:
·
Nirbhaya
Fund has received no increase in
allocations at all. And this despite the 12.3 %·
increase in rapes of women and girls in 2016 over the last year, according to
the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
·
Allocation
for Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Castes has
been cut by 10.4%
·
The
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana has
been cut by 11.1%. Given the large number of adolescent girls who become under
age mothers, a cut in the scheme raises concerns.
Prepared by: HAQ Newdelhi