Budget 2020-21: Scheduled Caste allocation 'shortfall' Rs 421,754 crore, highest since 2014

In a quick analysis, three civil society organizations, Dr Ambedkar Cooperative Federation, National Alliance of People’s Movements and Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch have claimed that the Union budget's shortfall for Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCP) is the highest since 2014-15 -- a whopping Rs 421,754 crore.
Providing figures of budgeted allocation ever since Narendra Modi came to power, the figures show that, as against the SC population of 16.6%, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated just about 2.47% or Rs 83,257 crore out of the total budget of Rs 3,042,230 store. This suggests a shortfall of Rs 421,754 as against the actual requirement of Rs 505,010 store if one takes into account proportional allocation to SC population.
"Similarly", says a statement issued by the three organizations, "The population of Scheduled Tribes (STs) in India is 8.6% and their share in budget allocation is just 1.76%. If we go by their population share, they deserve an allocation of around Rs 26.1 lakh crore in budget which is actually only Rs 53,000 crore."

The analysis further says, "The percentage of allocation for scheduled tribes under the Tribal Sub-Pan (TSP) has also decreased from 1.90% on 2019-20 to 1.76% in 2020-21", adding, "The total percentage expenditure for SC/ST together under TSP/SCP has decreased from 4.82% to 4.50 %."
According to the analysis, "Another remarkable fact is that in the year 2018-19, Rs 2,276 crore and in 2017-18, Rs 2,901 crore was unspent under the SCP allocation. For Scheduled Tribes, Rs 2,245 crore remained unspent under the TSP head in the year 2018-19."
It comments, "While a major chunk of population strives for basic amenities like health and education, the situation being grimmer for backward classes like SCs and STs, the funds for them lay unutilized. The tall claim of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas falls flat when it comes to the marginalized classes of the society."

Healthcare expenditure remains flat

The Government of India's spending on healthcare, as percentage of total expenditure, has remained flat at 5.3 percent in last two consecutive financial years, according to the latest Economic Survey 2020. The overall budgetary expenditure by Centre and states in FY20 budget estimates stood at Rs 60.72 lakh crore. In terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the government spend on healthcare is 1.6 percent in FY20 budget estimate a small rise from 1.5 percent in FY19.
Expenditure on health includes expenditure on medical and public health, family welfare and water supply and sanitation. Primary healthcare accounts for 52.1 per cent of India's current public expenditure on health as per the National Health Estimates, 2016-17.
The National Health Policy - 2017 stated that health spend by government should be 2.5 percent of GDP by 2025. The policy recommended to spend at least two third of Government’s health expenditure on primary healthcare, in addition to setting a target to reduce the proportion of households facing catastrophic health expenditure from the current levels by 25 percent by 2025.

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