India’s social sector expenditures are amongst the lowest among all major economies of the world. In this concluding part of our budget analysis of Union Budget 2021-22, we present proposals on how the Centre can more than double its social sector expenditures. Part I: Snapshot of Subsidies Given to Rich in Budgets According to the Economic Survey, the annual document[Read More…]

Budget and Nutrition Schemes Hunger and Malnutrition ‘Emergency’ India’s rulers may be claiming that the country is heading towards becoming a global superpower,  but what is for sure is that its hunger levels are amongst the worst in the world. The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a multidimensional statistical tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally and by country[Read More…]

In this part, we analyse the allocations made in the Budget for education and health, from a people’s perspective. Budget and Education Education is fundamental to human as well as societal development. Which is why in all developed countries, governments have taken the responsibility of providing Free, Equitable and Good Quality school education to All their children (the private sector[Read More…]

Overestimating tax revenue and budgetary outlay There was always some discrepancy between budget estimates (BE), revised estimates (RE) and actuals (A)[1] over the years—as is to be expected—but such differences were relatively minor. Over the last few years, the Modi Government has indulged in dressing up of the budget figures, because of which these differences have become so vast that[Read More…]

Despite all the manipulations done by the Modi Government with the GDP figures, the economic slowdown has been so persistent that now, finally, the official figures also admit that economy began slowing down before the pandemic. GDP Growth Rate Till 2019, just before the elections, Modi and the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley claimed that India is the fastest growing[Read More…]