We mustn't spread India’s social sector spending too thin
₹14,94,296 crore. The 2024-25 interim budget also saw an increase of 28.4% in the allocation for the social justice and empowerment ministry from the 2023-24 revised estimate. At the same time, we see that the total expenditure in subsidies fell in 2023-24 by 28.3% from the revised estimate of 2022-23.
Fertilizer and other subsidies, such as for agricultural price support, also fell. This trend continued in the 2024-25 budget, with the expenditure on food subsidies down by 3.3% over the 2023-24 revised estimate, and the fertilizer-subsidy outlay down by about 13%. Total outlays on subsidies fell by 7% in the current budget.
As for expenditure on particular schemes, the biggest hit had been suffered by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), with a nearly 33% fall in the allocated budget in 2023-24 from 2022-23. The ₹60,000 crore for 2023-24 was the lowest in four years, though it was revised to ₹86,000. The same sum has been earmarked in the interim budget.
However, compared to other major schemes, it is still high; the PM Awas Yojana, for example, has a lower outlay. That said, it has been opined that India’s rural job guarantee scheme continues to be under-funded, given the dependence of millions of people on it for employment. The rhetoric of acting in favour of “the poor" has always been a part and parcel of the Indian policy discourse.
This is particularly evident in budget speeches and expenditures. If we study budget speeches closely, there have been subtle attempts at redefining ‘poverty’ in India. The definition has broadened from a conservative focus on income and consumption to include factors like health, education and housing.
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