COVER HINDI - Ministry of Women and Child Development

7.9 Hence, there is a strong case for improving
significantly the priorities for social services in public
spending in India. Again, while the overall public spending
on important social services in India appears to be low in
comparison to several countries, the picture is quite uneven
when we compare the public spending by different States.
Table 4 below presents a comparison of the per capita
budget outlays on total Social Services, and the per capita
budget outlays on Education, Health, and Water Supply
& Sanitation, during the years 1998-99 to 2000-01, by the
15 larger States in India.
Table 4: Per Capita Budget Expenditures on Social
Services by the 15 larger States in India
State Average for the years
1998–99 to 2000–01 (in Rs.)
Social Education Health Water
Services Supply &
(Total)
Sanitation
Bihar 474.0 311.1 50.9 19.1
Orissa 931.2 463.1 94.7 56.2
U P 558.5 340.4 63.4 20.0
Assam 929.9 615.2 92.2 59.2
M P 781.3 344.5 86.2 63.4
Rajasthan 1020.7 545.3 128.3 111.5
W B 958.2 512.3 136.8 42.5
A P 1004.1 411.7 118.2 57.7
Kerala 1254.8 713.3 172.3 52.3
Karnataka 1083.9 558.3 135.7 60.3
T N 1240.9 651.5 154.4 38.3
Gujarat 1331.3 664.4 154.3 39.0
Haryana 1145.4 587.6 122.11 102.1
Maharashtra 1276.1 730.9 131.7 79.7
Punjab
Note:
1220.5 716.3 221.1 55.0
(1) States are arranged in the increasing Order of per
capita GSDP;
(2) Bihar, U.P., and M.P. have been taken as undivided
States.
Source: Government of India, Report of the Twelfth
Finance Commission, December 2004.
7.10 This comparison shows that while the economically
backward States, with lower levels of Per Capita Gross
State Domestic Product, usually incurred lower per capita
expenditures on social services (than the better off States),
there were also wide variations within the per capita
expenditures of these economically backward States. For
instance, the per capita expenditures on social services by
Rajasthan and Orissa were substantially higher than those
by U.P. and Bihar. These variations in public expenditure
could have translated into disparities in human
development outcomes between the economically
backward States. Thus, the emphasis on removing the
financial constraints to human development is very
pertinent in the policy discussions in India. And, it is quite
pertinent to analyse the budgets of the Central and State
Governments in order to get insights for appropriate policy
making.
7.11 An analysis of the broad trends in budget outlays by
the Union Government shows that its aggregate
expenditure on social sector as a proportion of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) has been increasing over the last
decade. As Chart 1 shows (refer to Annexure 1 for more
detail), Union Government’s total expenditure on Social
Services has increased from around 0.71 % of GDP in
1996-97 to 1.1 % of GDP in 2006-07. However, this
increase in Union Government spending between 1996-
97 and 2006-07 represents just under 0.4 % of GDP, which
is inadequate if we take into account the acute need for
greater public resources for the social sectors as also the
worsening fiscal health of the States over this period. Also,
almost the entire increase over the decade from 1996-97
to 2006-07 BE has been in Revenue Expenditure (which
has gone up from Rs. 9014.15 crore in 1996-97 to Rs.
41,698.73 crore in 2006-07 BE), while Capital Expenditure
has been almost stagnant over this period (Rs. 658.09 crore
in 1996-97 and Rs. 1164.83 crore in 2006-07 BE).
122 Annual Report 2006-07