MYTHS AND REALITIES OF UNION BUDGET 2013-14
Myth: The Budget has rapidly increased
spending on Aam Aadmi:
Reality: The Actual Expenditure (See RE 2012-13) in key
sectors and Ministries is estimated to be either below or only marginally above
actual expenditure of last year (See Actual 2011-12)
Sl no.
|
|
Actual: 2011-12
(Rs in crores)
|
BE: 2012-13
(Rs in crores)
|
RE: 2012-13
(Rs in crores)
|
1
|
Plan Size
|
508,596
|
651,000
|
556,000
|
2
|
Capital Expenditure
|
158,580
|
204,816
|
167,753
|
|
Sectoral
Allocation
|
|
|
|
3
|
Social Sector Spending
|
135,480
|
178,906
|
158,339
|
4
|
Agriculture and Allied Activities
|
16194
|
17692
|
15971
|
5
|
Rural Development
|
47471
|
50729
|
43704
|
6
|
Irrigation and Flood Control
|
506
|
1275
|
428
|
|
Ministry
|
|
|
|
7
|
Ministry of Tribal Affairs
|
1562
|
1573
|
1427
|
8
|
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
|
15031
|
13331
|
15243
|
9
|
Ministry of HRD
|
50658
|
61427
|
56223
|
10
|
Ministry of Rural Development
|
66638
|
76376
|
55000
|
11
|
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
|
23159
|
30477
|
24894
|
PROGRAMS
Sl No
|
Scheme
|
Allocation 2012-13
(BE) (Rs in crores)
|
Allocation 2013
-14 (BE) (Rs in crores)*
|
Comments
|
1
|
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS)
|
33,000
|
33,000
|
No Change
|
2
|
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
|
24,000
|
21,700
|
Decrease
|
3
|
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
|
25,555
|
27,258
|
6% increase (barely covers inflation)
|
4
|
Mid Day Meal Scheme
|
11,937
|
13,215
|
10% increase (little over inflation)
|
4
|
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
|
20,542
|
20,999
|
2% increase (Much less than inflation)
|
5
|
Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
|
15,850
|
17,700
|
11% increase (little over inflation)
|
Note:
* Represents allocations and NOT the revised estimates which are less because
of the various budgetary cut. As such, they do not represent the actual
increases in some of these expenditures.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Response to Union Budget 2013
Date: 28.2.2013
Aam
Aadmi of the country has reasons to feel disappointed, if not cheated, with the
Union Budget 2013-14 presented by the ruling coalition that came to power in
his name. All over the country, cutting across gender, regions, sectors,
classes and the urban/rural divide, the aam aadami faces a crisis of economic
opportunity and livelihood. She has suffered from a long period of high
inflation, especially in food items. She has long suffered from growth that did
not deliver more jobs, a decline in growth now threatens to cut down on
existing livelihood opportunities. All the basic amenities that a citizen can
expect from democratic governance – public provisions for heath, education and
social security – are beyond the reach of the Aam Aadami. Rampant corruption
from top to the bottom eats into whatever little could trickle down to them.
The
Union Budget presented by the Finance Minister is a clever attempt to mislead
the public in an election year. The Finance Minister’s speech offers little
remedy for the key problems facing the Indian economy that he himself begins by
acknowledging: slowdown of growth, rising fiscal deficit and current account
deficit. The current crisis required the government to stimulate domestic
investment by encouraging consumption from below; instead the FM remained
focused on Foreign investors. Controlling inflation required expansion of PDS
and reinforced subsidies on energy and focus on increasing agricultural output
in pulses and oilseeds; instead the government has relied on hope. Meeting the
demands and aspirations of the people required substantial and real increase in
social sector expenditure, instead the government has resorted to statistical
tricks and gimmicks rather than put its money where its mouth is. Nor is there
any evidence of the government being serious about better usage and monitoring
of the funds spent on these public provisions. Shockingly, the government has
not come up with any measure to curb corruption and control the parallel black
economy that the public is so visibly exercised about.
An
analysis of the summary statistics of the budget make it clear that there is
little connect between the rhetoric of the budget and its actual numbers. In his speech the FM claimed that the
government has not spared money for welfare schemes; the fact is that the UPA
has drastically cut down on most of the key welfare schemes in the current year
itself. The FM’s claims about increasing outlays in key sectors is a clear case
of statistical fudging; the ‘increase’ claimed by the FM is with reference to
the drastically reduced expenditure (Revised Estimates). In most cases the rise
in budget allocations is barely enough to cover inflation. In real terms there
is no increase in spending for the aam aadami. The FM has also used the age old
devise of distracting public attention with the help of some gimmicks that cost
very little.
The
government needed to increase tax revenue, which has actually fallen by 4% in
the current year over what was budgeted; similar false assumptions seem to
driving the current projections of 20% increase in revenue. The much talked
about move to tax the rich turned out to be a damp squib, for it would affect
only 42,000 super rich and bring very small gains for the country. This small
gain would be more than made up by the generous increase in the tax exemption,
mostly for the well off and the corporate. The amount of ‘Tax foregone’ has
gone up from Rs. 5,33,000 crores to Rs. 5,73,000 crores. There is no change in
the capital gains regime to curb speculative gains activity in the stock
market.The budget gives no indication of a political will to curb black income
generation in the economy. The deferment of implementation of GARR to 2016 is
another example of the lack of political will to curb tax avoidance. There is
nothing in the budget to do away with non-transparent instruments like
Participatory Notes or to reformulate the double taxation treaties with ‘tax
heavens’ and black economy conduits.
Most
of the schemes meant for the aam aadmi have remained static or have in fact
gone down in real terms or even compared to the actual expenditure in the year
before. The central Plan size has come down from Rs. 6,51,000 crore in the
Budget last year to the Revised estimate of 5,56,000 crores, huge shortfall of
Rs. 96,000 crores. In 2012-13 expenditure on agriculture and allied activities,
rural development, irrigation and flood control and welfare of ST has actually
gone down compared to the actual expenditure of the previous year. A similar
comparison of the expenditure on health and education shows a marginal increase
that barely keeps pace with inflation. The total expenditure on social services
has fallen short by Rs. 23,000 crores compared to the budgeted allocations.
This fact acquires significance for much of the social sector expenditure takes
place at the level of the states where the transfer has been cut down by as
much as 10,000 crores.
It
is unfortunate that even the opposition has not drawn the country’s attention
to these statistical lies and inattention to the needs of the aam aadmi. Aam
Aadmi Party resolves to take this collective conspiracy of the political
establishment to the people’s court and place the concerns of aam admi at the
heart of our economic policy.
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