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New Delhi
The Narendra Modi authorities has launched into an effort to speed up protection of its flagship welfare programmes, with ministries pushing to utilise their budgets for 2023-24 as quickly as doable in order to keep away from a crowding of the budgets within the run-up to March 2024, the tip of the monetary yr, individuals conversant in the matter mentioned. Analysts consider that there might be one other motive for this as properly — the 2024 elections.
Among the efforts underway is a drive by the well being ministry so as to add one other 70 million households to its 100 million-strong flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat within the subsequent 4 months; the agriculture ministry’s transfer so as to add 33.4 million eligible beneficiaries within the ₹60,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) and increase threat protection below the ₹13,625-crore Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana to 70 million farmers; and the water and sanitation ministry’s deal with offering 300,000 villages with a strong waste administration system, and offering purposeful piped water connections to 40 million extra households.
Besides outlays for particular person schemes, ministries and different implementing companies have been given measurable “outputs” and “outcomes” for accountability, three officers mentioned requesting anonymity. “It is the basis for judging the performance of individual ministries,” certainly one of them mentioned.
While outlay means the price range allotted to a scheme in 2023-24, output is the measurable product, and the result is the last word end result or qualitative enchancment, this individual added. This yr, 2023-24 is the final full monetary yr for the second time period of the Modi authorities earlier than the essential common elections by May subsequent yr. Four giant states additionally go to polls later this yr.
Prime Minister Modi has typically spoken of “saturation coverage” of his authorities’s welfare schemes, and his Bharatiya Janata Party has successfully mixed welfarism and Hindutva right into a profitable election platform. In an interview forward of the Karnataka elections, dwelling minister Amit Shah mentioned the Modi authorities’s insurance policies have created a brand new “caste” within the nation — that of “beneficiaries”.
The cupboard secretary on Saturday chaired a ‘chintan shivir’ organised by the Union finance ministry that deliberated implementation of initiatives, flagship programmes, giant schemes and different main price range bulletins. “The objective of the ‘chintan shivir’ was to share insights and learnings on successful implementation of projects and schemes, discuss challenges and help ministries draw up a roadmap for timely and effective delivery on-ground,” it mentioned in a tweet on Monday.
“The list [of schemes] is long, as the government is monitoring performance of 148 major schemes,” the primary official mentioned, including that funds is not going to be a constraint for any welfare programme and if required extra money might be given on the revised estimate (RE) stage.
The Ayushman Bharat scheme , the federal government’s well being coverprogramme , offers medical insurance coverage as much as ₹5 lakh per household per yr to over 100 million poor households (roughly 500 million beneficiaries). The plan is to register 70 million further households within the subsequent 4 months, the second official mentioned.
The distribution of seven crore (70 million) playing cards — principally in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh advert Rajasthan — means an extra 350 million individuals will probably be coated below the world’s largest common well being care scheme, he mentioned.
Officials concerned within the planning maintained that quite a few key schemes and initiatives with a big public outreach in six to seven ministries will see an extra push and early deadlines.
The officers mentioned good governance and welfare of the poor are the 2 key rules driving the Modi authorities’s political and financial developments, which was notably evident through the pandemic interval that hit India in March 2020.
“Free food to 800 million poor people, direct cash assistance to underprivileged and measured economic stimulus not only saved lives and livelihoods but also protected our MSMEs,” a second official mentioned.
The authorities’s strict monitoring of capital expenditure and welfare programmes throughout that interval noticed front-loading of budgeted expenditure and the identical method has continued, he added. The official attributed India’s sturdy financial restoration post-pandemic, rising by 7.2% in 2022-23 (provisional estimates), to this method. Much of the economic system’s progress is powered by authorities spending.
On June 4, 2021, whereas reviewing the capital expenditure efficiency of assorted ministries and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) below them, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that enhanced capex will play a important position in revitalising the economic system post-pandemic and inspired ministries to front-load their capital expenditure. That yr (2021-22), the Union price range offered a capital outlay of ₹5.54 lakh crore, a pointy 34.5% leap over the price range estimate of 2020-21. In 2023-24, the price range has offered a capital outlay of ₹XXXX crore.
The third official mentioned the federal government’s deal with front-loading capex is guided purely by financial concerns. “However, it had a multiplier effect. It helped in creating demand, providing jobs, and eventually generating resources for welfare work.”
The authorities made important bulletins in Budget 2023-24, each for social and financial improvement, and all ministries are anticipated to spend the budgeted quantity in accordance with a month-to-month expenditure plan (MEP) and quarterly expenditure plan (QEP) for correct implementation of schemes and to keep away from last-minute rush, he mentioned. “This is a prudent and efficient expenditure policy followed for several years to get the best value out of public money.”
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