Leading Odisha CSO decries cut in social sector spending

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 17:

Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), a leading civil society organisation (CSO) in the state, has regretted the cut in allocation to the social sector in the Odisha Budget presented in the state Assembly yesterday.

Allocation for the Health department had been slashed by almost Rs 67 crore while that for Women and Child Development department had been cut by more than Rs 500 crore, it has pointed out.

CYSD has done a sectoral analysis of the budget provisions for various sectors and departments. Here are the highlights of its findings.

This year the State Government has presented the Budget before the fourteenth Finance Commission’s recommendation report. As the amount of central assistance for state plan depends upon the finance commission’s recommendation, there is no clear indication about the central assistance for 2015-16. However, The Finance Minister has presented a budget of about 84487 Cr for coming financial year.

• The total State Budget for the year 2014-15 is estimated at Rs. 84487.77 Cr. which is 5.42 percent more than the previous year.

• Plan Expenditure has marginally increased by only Rs 1103.46 Cr. over 2014-15 (BE) to reach Rs 40531.46 Cr. It was Rs 39428.58 Cr. in 2014-15 (BE).
• Out of the total Rs 70940 Cr of estimated receipt under consolidated fund 40647 Cr is from share in central taxes and grant-in-aid. That means the state is able to only arrange Rs 30534 Cr from its own tax and non tax.
• Since 2005-06 the state continues to be a revenue surplus budget. The estimated revenue surplus for the year 2015-16(BE) is 5101.51 Crore.
• The estimated net debt for the year 2015-16 is Rs 12000.38 Crore which was Rs 10695.72 Cr in 2014-15 (BE).
• The state’s own tax GDP ratio is estimated at 6.11 percent for the year 2015-16.

Health

• The State government’s budget allocation for Health & Family Welfare has decreased from 3922.74 in 2014-15 BE to Rs 3855.88 Cr. in 2015-16(BE) this is Rs 66.86 Cr less than the previous year.
• An amount of Rs 1088 Cr is towards national health mission, which is included in the state budget.
• The department budget shares decreased by 0.32 percent (4.56 percent) of the total budget which was 4.88 percent in 2015-14.
• This year as share to the GSDP, it is 1.11 percent which was 1.20 percent in 2014-15.
• An amount of 202.56 Cr is allocated by OSCM for the govt. hospital for free medicine distribution which was same in 2014-15.
• The budgetary allocation under bio- waste management is Rs.33.50 Cr which was constant (Rs 2.80 Cr) since last three years.
• An amount of Rs 50.00 Cr. is allocated to address two critical health indicators IMR and MMR.
• Purchase of medical equipment which Rs 124.05 Cr. in the last year Budget has reduced to Rs.87.00 Cr in the present budget.
• Odisha State Treatment fund is Rs 20 Cr in 2015-16 which as same in the last year.

School & Mass Education

• Budget for School and Mass Education (S&ME) Department has marginally increased from Rs 9327.12 Cr. in the year 2014-15(BE) to Rs 9979.49 Cr in 2015-16 (BE). The increase in budget allocation is very marginal as compared to the trend in last five years budget allocation for the department.
• Only Rs 40 Cr. increase in state plan budget for S&ME department
• The state government has introduced a new scheme “Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya” under state plan for Model Schools and an amount of Rs.30.00 Crore has been allocated for this purpose.
• As a percentage of GSDP the education budget is only 2.86 percent with a decrease of 0.1 percent over the previous year 2014-15(BE). There is a need of allocation of 6 percent of GSDP to fulfil the commitment under MDGs.
• As per the statement presented with the Annual budget 2015-16 under the Odisha FRBM Rule-2005, out of the total sanctioned post in the department, 32590 posts are vacant. In 2014-15 statement it was 25173.

Women & Child Development

• Budget for Women and Child Development has decreased from Rs 4666.65 Cr. in the year 2014-15(BE) to Rs 4162.62 Cr in 2015-16 (BE).
• Budget for Special Nutrition programme under this department which is meant for providing supplementary foods under ICDS programme has decreased from Rs 83.80 Cr to Rs 70.10 Cr.

Agriculture

• The process of agriculture budget continued for the third time in Odisha.
• Budget outlay for agriculture and allied sectors is Rs.10,903 Cr, which is increased from Rs.9542.22 Cr in 204-15 .This increment is only 14.26 pc against 33 pc increment in budget allocation in 2014-15 over the previous year. The share of agricultural sector in the total budget allocation (which is 84,488 crore) is 12.90 pc which is not significantly different from the earlier budget. It is noted that the budgetary share of agriculture sector was 11.87% in 2013-14 and 11.9 pc in 2014-15. The budget for agriculture department is Rs.3124.38 Cr which is 28.65 pc of the total budget for agricultural sector. The share of the agriculture department was 30pc in 2013-14(BE) and 34pc in 2014-15.

• To increase the Seed replacement rate, a Corpus fund of Rs.100cr has been allocated for procure and pre-position the quality seeds and planting materials for the farmers sufficiently ahead of the sowing or planting season at affordable prices in their locality.
  • The scheme of corpus fund for fertilizer has been continued with Rs.100 cr allocation in 2015-16 budget. It is noted that this scheme was started in 2014-15 with Rs.100crore corpus fund for ensuring the availability of fertilizers to the farmers in time through pre-positioning of fertilizers during Kharif and Rabi season.
  • A sum of Rs.150.00 crore was provided for ‘Popularization of Agriculture Implements, Equipment and Diesel Pump-sets’ in 2014-15. It is now proposed to be enhanced to Rs.240.00 crore in 2015-16.
  • Patato mission is created with Rs.50 crore allocation: The aim of the mission is to increase the production of potato from the current level of 0.2 million ton to 1.2 million ton by the year 2017-18. The Directorate of Horticulture will be the nodal agency for the mission to look after production of potato, establishment of cold storages and rational distribution. A buffer stock of potato through advance procurement will be created. A revolving corpus fund of Rs.50.00 crore will be placed with the Corporation during 2015-16.
  • A sum of Rs.90.00 crore is proposed for the scheme “Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana” (BKKY), a health insurance schjeme for the farmers in the budget estimates for 2015-16.BKKY was launched in 2013-14 to take care of a substantial part of their out-of pocket health expenditure.
  • A sum of Rs.384.00 crore is proposed to be provided towards interest subvention for short term crop loan and term loan during the year 2015-16 in order to encourage private capital investment in agriculture for adoption of modern farming practices.
  • Rs.100.00 crore for the year 2015-16 is proposed for providing financial assistance for storage facility of paddy. At present, RMCs(Regulated market Committees) have 631 nos. of godowns with a storage capacity of 2,01,145 MT. Besides, 85 nos. of godowns of different categories having capacity of 62,500 MT are under construction in different
  RMCs. These godowns are mainly used for paddy procurement. Further, 544 godowns are being taken up under RIDF for provision of storage facilities at the PACS level.
  • Rs.300 cr provided for the construction of concrete drying Platforms and Threshing Floors: The small and marginal farmers do not have adequate space for threshing and drying paddy. It is estimated that approximately 5000 additional numbers of threshing floors will be constructed all over the State over next three years apart from the threshing floors already constructed/ under construction.
  • Rs.100.00 crore provided to procure the non-paddy crops like oilseeds and pulses from the farmers at Minimum support price. This will help the bonafide farmers to get a remunerative price and save them from the exploitation of middlemen.