The dismal case of slashing schemes and cutting funds

Source: The post is based on an article “The dismal case of slashing schemes and cutting funds” published in The Hindu on 28^th October 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Government Policies

Relevance: concerns associated with the decline in the number of schemes

News: Around 50% of central government sponsored scheme have been discontinued, subsumed, revamped or rationalised into other schemes in the past three years.

This has impacted different sectors as funds are needed for the welfare of the people.

How schemes have changed in different ministries?

Union Ministry of Women and Child Development – There are just 3 schemes now (Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.) out of 19 schemes.

Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairy –There are just 2 schemes remaining out of 12. The Ministry has also ended three schemes which include Dairying through Cooperatives, National Dairy Plan-II, etc.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare – There are three schemes now (Krishonnati Yojana, Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperatives and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana) out of 20 earlier.

However, the challenges such as funding cuts, disbursement and utilization of funds still remain despite reduction in the scheme.

As per data, around ₹1.2 lakh crore of funds meant for central government-sponsored schemes are with banks and they have not been utilized.

What is the status of active schemes?

Schemes that are active, are also facing challenges such as funding cuts, disbursement and utilization of funds.

Nirbhaya Scheme: ₹1,000 crore was allocated to the Nirbhaya fund annually between 2013-16 and out of these funds a large amount of have been unutilized.

• Further, around ₹6,214 crore was allocated to the Nirbhaya fund since its launch in 2013 but only ₹4,138 crore was disbursed till the FY21-22.
• This shows the dismal condition of the women-oriented schemes. States are also ending the schemes while women still continue to face risks in public spaces.

Agriculture: Farmers are facing problems with the cut in the subsidies of fertilizers by the government. For example, government spending on fertilizers in FY20-21 was ₹1,27,921 crore and it reached ₹79,529 crore in the FY21-22. There were also reductions in the allocation of NPK fertilizers.

• These budgetary cuts have led to shortage in fertilizers and the price of fertilizers have also risen up due to the ongoing Ukraine war.

Employment: The allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) went down by 25% in the FY22-23 budget compared to the FY21-22.

• This reduction has come at the time when the demand for jobs is higher than pre pandemic level as highlighted by the Economic Survey 2022-23.
• Further, there has been delay in the disbursal of the fund.
• There has also been reduction in the actual allocation of budget for the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan. This scheme subsumed 15 other schemes instead of expanding and providing jobs to the rural poor.

Health: There has been delays in the salary of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers. They also struggle in regularization of their jobs and their wages are also very low.

Environment: Funding for wildlife habitat development under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has declined to almost half this year. There has also been decline in the allocation for Project Tiger. This raises doubt on meeting the climate change obligations.