{"id":227208,"date":"2023-02-18T19:07:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T13:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=227208"},"modified":"2023-02-18T19:07:28","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T13:37:28","slug":"social-security-and-the-story-of-two-budgets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/social-security-and-the-story-of-two-budgets\/","title":{"rendered":"Social security and the story of two Budgets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/b><\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cSocial security and the story of two Budgets\u201d <\/b><\/strong>published in The Hindu <\/b><\/strong>on 18th February 2023<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/b><\/strong>GS3- Government schemes and interventions<\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0Socio-economic Welfare of vulnerable section<\/p>\n

News- <\/b><\/strong>In Union Budget 2023-24, the finance minister asserted that since 2014, the central government has ensured a better quality of life, and a life of dignity for all its citizens. But Budget figures help distinguish rhetoric from the truth.<\/p>\n

What are the issues with social security provisions provided by the central government?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Budgetary provisions<\/b><\/strong>– There have been severe cuts in various social security and welfare schemes <\/b><\/strong>such as food security and the MGNREGA in the budget.<\/p>\n

Elderly and other social security pensioners are not given enough consideration.<\/p>\n

Budget for the NSAP<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0has remained constant, at approximately \u20b99,000 crore<\/b><\/strong>. It is steadily reducing in real terms. This year, the NSAP saw a reduction of \u20b916 crore.<\/p>\n

Low amount of pension<\/b><\/strong>-Failure to\u00a0index social sector expenditure to inflation<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0has led to the even greater marginalisation of vulnerable people. India\u2019s cumulative inflation rate from 2007 to 2023 is 193.19%. This means that \u20b9200 in 2007 would have become \u20b9586.38 in 2023 if indexed.<\/p>\n

Since 2007, social security pensions under the National Social Assistance Programme have remained frozen at a low of \u20b9200 for the elderly and \u20b9300 per month for widows and persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Numbers receiving pensions<\/b><\/strong>– For selecting beneficiaries, the central government relies on the obsolete Below Poverty Line lists based on Census 2001<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the stringent criteria of providing disability pensions<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0only to those with a disability level of 80% or more, has excluded lakhs of the disabled even within the obsolete BPL category.<\/p>\n

What Rajasthan seems to be a better model for social security provisions to vulnerable populations?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rajasthan announced a landmark Minimum Income Guarantee and Pension law<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0in the recent budget.<\/p>\n

It provides 125 days of work through the rural or urban employment guarantee, and a minimum social security pension <\/b><\/strong>of \u20b91,000 per month, with an automatic increase of 15% per Annum.<\/p>\n

Today, Rajasthan provides social security pensions<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0to over 90 lakh people. NSAP covers only a small part of the pension of 10 lakh pensioners.<\/p>\n

After this Budget announcement in Rajasthan, the total amount spent on pensions is expected to go up to \u20b911,500 crore. It is approximately 30% more than the entire national social security pensions<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0budget under NSAP.<\/p>\n

In 2013, the Rajasthan government changed its eligibility criteria<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0to expand the coverage of pensioners by making economically vulnerable women above 55, and men above 58 eligible for old-age pension.<\/p>\n

It also permitted widows with adult children to receive a widow pension, and included anyone with more than 40% disability to receive a disability pension.<\/p>\n

What is NSAP?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

NSAP is a centrally sponsored social security scheme<\/b><\/strong>. It provides income security to the elderly, widows, and persons with disabilities from \u201cBPL families\u201d<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In addition to the central contribution, State governments are encouraged to match the amount as the central contribution under the NSAP\u2019s guidelines.<\/p>\n

Trends across 36 States indicate that a majority of the States are providing several times the suggested amount.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward for the central government and other state governments for social security to vulnerable populations?<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Other States, and even the Government of India should follow the example of Rajasthan<\/b><\/strong>. They should take the necessary steps to change their existing schemes into an Act that provides more credible entitlements, strengthens accountability<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Central government must recognise that pension is a right for work done by unorganised sector workers<\/b><\/strong>, who are contributing seminally to the GDP and economy all their lives.<\/p>\n

The vulnerable working people, senior citizens and the disabled, rights-based entitlements provide a measure of dignified living<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0which should be the objective of any democracy<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cSocial security and the story of two Budgets\u201d published in The Hindu on 18th February 2023. Syllabus: GS3- Government schemes and interventions Relevance:\u00a0Socio-economic Welfare of vulnerable section News- In Union Budget 2023-24, the finance minister asserted that since 2014, the central government has ensured a better quality… Continue reading Social security and the story of two Budgets<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10309,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[216,10498],"class_list":["post-227208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}