Indian economy is back on the recovery path.For, it has shown a remarkable resilience by getting back on to the rails from the recession blues. In fact, many countries, including major economy like US and other European countries like Spain yet to recover fully from recession.

India’s consistent growth rate is an ample indication to say with affirmatively that the nation’s economy has fully recovered from the recession. The Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India should be appreciated for the timely initiatives they had taken by pumping in big monies to help to put recovery on the fast track mode. But inflation and the ongoing civil struggle in oil-rich countries like Libya and its likely impact on other Gulf countries has put a lot of strain on the Indian economy in the recent times, particularly in the context of its oil requirements, which India largely depends on imports.

In this context, the Union Budget-2011 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee should have been more peoplefriendly but it was not the case to be. “We are reeaching the end of a remarkable fiscal year,” said Pranab Mukherjee as he rose to present the Union Budget. But more words than deeds,Pranabda failed to live up to the promise. Agreeing with the government that the year gone by presented us with several opportunities and challenges to address critical concerns pertaining to the social sector, the overall sense is that this Budget, too, did precious little in terms of firming up the government’s intent of ensuring “inclusive” growth. Let us look at the provisions made by the Union Budget 2011-12 for key social sectors and, more specifically, the outlays for the marginalised sections of the population.

With regard to the overall outlay for the social sector, the Union Budget 2011-12 has allocated Rs 17,5975 crore (2011-12 Budget Estimate or BE), which is a marginal increase over the previous years’ outlay of Rs 16,2501 crore in 2010-11 Revised Estimate or RE and Rs 1,22,345 crore in 2009-10. When seen as a proportion of GDP, outlays for the social sector works out to about 1.96 per cent; and as a share of the total government Budget, the social sector accounts for 14 per cent (a minor improvement over 13.36 per cent in the 2010-11 RE). Thus, this clearly reveals that increases in the social sector are hardly substantial. To look at the numbers pertaining to  education,  it becomes clear that we are nowhere near the Kothari Commission  recommendations  of 1966,which sought six per cent of the country’s GDP for education. While this was reiterated by the UPA-I, the present total public spending on education (taking the spending by not just Education Departments in the Centre and states but also the other departments) works out to a mere 3.39 per cent of the GDP (2008-09). While the government has enacted the Right to Education for children in the age group of six to 14 years, the increase in the Budget for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or SSA (10.5 per cent increase in allocations for SSA in 2011-12 BE compared to 2010-11 RE) is hardly sufficient to foot the cost of universalising quality education.

The Union government’s total allocation for education in 2011-12 (BE) stands at 0.71 per cent of GDP, which is slightly better than the 0.69 per cent of GDP recorded for 2010-11 (RE). As a proportion of its total budget outlay, there is an increase in outlays for education by 16.1 per cent from 2010-11 (RE) to 2011-12 (BE). A welcome measure is the introduction of a scheme for  students belonging to the scheduled caste community — Pre-Matric Scholarship for SC Students for Classes IX and X with an outlay of Rs 196 crore. The outlays for the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan have been stepped up from Rs 1,500 crore in 2010-11 (RE) to Rs 2,423 crore in 2010-11 (BE). Schemes showing increases in their outlay include the Scheme forProviding Quality Education in Madrassas (SPQEM), Scheme for Infrastructure Development in Minority Institutions (IDMI),Information and Communication Technology in Schools, Scheme for construction and Running of Girls Hostels for Students of Secondary & Higher Secondary Schools.

Outlays for National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme have been reduced from Rs 81.45 crore in 2010-11 (BE) to Rs 54 crore in 2011-12 (BE). When comparing the outlays in the Union Budget for the five years of the 11th Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12), the outlays fall far short of what was proposed by the Planning Commission. This is true for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan that has been allocated a mere 22 per cent of the total recommended 11th Plan outlays. Some other instances are Teacher Training (45 per cent) and University Grants Commission (68 per cent).

In health, too, the overall outlays have hardly increased. When seen as a proportion of the country’s GDP, public spending on health has increased from 0.32 per cent in 2010-11 (RE) to 0.34 per cent in 2011-12 (BE). This, when seen as a share of the total Union government’s expenditure comprises a mere 2.42 per cent. In rural water supply and sanitation, the allocations have hardly shown any increase.

Allocations for National Rural Health Mission have shown a slight increase from Rs 15,037 crore in 2010-11 (RE) to Rs 17,924.76 crore in 2011-12 (BE). Critical human resource and  infrastructural gaps in health warranted much greater focus in terms of outlays. For District Hospitals, allocations have been marginally increased from Rs 200 crore in 2010-11 (RE) to Rs 260 crore in 2011-12 (BE). Albeit some increase has been made for the scheme on Human Resources for Health (outlays have increased from Rs 187 crore in 2010-11 RE to Rs 348 crore in 2011-12 BE).

Given the rising food prices, it was hoped that there would be substantial increases in food subsidies. The allocation for food subsidy in the Union Budget 2011-12 does not reflect the government’s intent to ensure food for all. Though there has been an increase in food subsidy in 2011-12 BE of around Rs 5,000 crore compared to last year, the share of food subsidy in the total Union Budget has been falling since 2004-05. When seen in the light of the proposed National Food Security legislation this clearly falls way short of what is required. An alternative cost estimation of the universal distribution of rice and wheat in the country under the Public Distribution System (PDS) calls for an additional outlay of Rs 98,355 crore from the Union Budget 2011-12, over and above the present food subsidy bill of Rs 60,573 crore in 2011-12 (BE). With regard to provisions for the marginalised sections of population, some encouraging steps have been taken by this Budget. Ministries and departments like animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries, and new and renewable energy are allocating funds for the welfare of scheduled castes. Similarly, ministries and departments like industrial policy and promotion, environment and forest, aids control, housing and urban poverty alleviation, land resources and drinking water and sanitation have begun to report outlays for the welfare of scheduled tribes in the country. As per the statement 21 and 21 A, allocations under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan have increased to Rs 30, 551 crore in 2011-12 BE from Rs 23,795 crore in 2010-11; while under Tribal Sub Plan, the allocation has increased to Rs 17,371 crore in 2011-12 BE from Rs 5,445 crore in 2010-11. There is an increase in outlays for primitive tribal groups from Rs 185 crore in 2010-11 (BE) to Rs 244 crore in 2011-12 (BE).

Highlights of the budget for 2011-12 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament:
· Scaled up flow of resources infuses dynamism in rural economy
· GDP estimated to have grown at 8.6% in 2010-11
· Exports grown by 9.6%, imports by 17.6% in April-January 2010-11 over corresponding period last year
· Indian economy expected to grow at 9% in 2011-12
· Five-fold strategy to deal with black money
· Group of Ministers to suggest ways for tackling corruption
· Public Debt Management Agency of India Bill to come up next financial year
· Direct Tax Code (DTC) to be effective from April 01, 2012
· Phased move towards direct transfer cash subsidy to BPL people for better delivery of kerosene, LPG and fertilizer mooted
· Rs 40,000 crore to be raised through disinvestment in 2011-12
· FDI policy to be liberalized further
· SEBI registered mutual funds permitted to accept subscription from foreign investors who meet KYC requirement
· FII limit for investment in corporate bonds in infrastructure sector raised
· Additional banking license to private sector players proposed
· Rs 6000 crore to be provided in 2011-12 for maintaining minimum Tier I Capital to Risk Weighted Asset Ratio (CRAR) of 8% in public sector banks
· Rs 500 crore to be provided to regional rural banks to maintain 9% CRAR
· Rs 500 crore Women SHG Development Fund to be created
· Micro Small and Medium Enterprises MSME gets boost as Rs 5000 crore provided to SIDBI and Rs 3000 crore to NABARD
· Existing housing loan limit enhanced to Rs 25 lakh for dwelling units
· Provision under Rural housing Fund enhanced to Rs 3000 crore
· Allocation under Rashtirya Krishi Vikas yojna (RKVY) increased to Rs 7860 crore
· Rs 300 crore vegetable initiative to achieve competitive prices · Rs 300 crore Accelerated fodder Development Programme to benefit farmers in 25000 villages
· Credit flow to farmers raised from Rs.3,75,000 crore to Rs.4,75,000 crore
· Rs 10,000 crore for NABARD’s Short Term Rural Credit Fund for 2011-12
· 15 more mega food parks during 2011-12
· National food security bill to be introduced this year
· Capital investment in storage capacity to be eligible for viability gap funding
· 23.3% increase in allocation for infrastructure
· Tax-free bonds of Rs 30,000 crore proposed by government undertakings
· Environmental concerns relating to infrastructure projects to be considered by Group of Ministers
· National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles to be launched
· 7 Mega clusters for leather products to be set up
· Allocation for social sector increased by 17% amounting to 36.4% of total plan allocation
· Bharat Nirman allocation increased by Rs.10,000 crore
· Rural broadband connectivity to all 2.5 lakh panchayats in three years.
· Bill to amend Indian Stamp Act to introduce
· Rs 300 crore scheme for modernization stamp and registration administration
· Significant increase in remuneration of Angawadi workers and helpers
· Allocation for education increased by24%
· Rs 21,000 crore allocated for Sarv Shikshya Abhiyan registering an increase of 40%
· 1500 institute of higher learning to be connected by March 2012 with Knowledge Network.
· National Innovation Council set up
· Additional Rs 500 crore for National Skill Development Fund
· Plan allocation for health stepped up by20%
· Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme liberalized further
· Rs 200 crore for Green India Mission
· Rs 200 crore for cleaning of rivers
· Rs 8000 crore provided for development needs of J&K
· 10 lakhs Aadhaar(UID) numbers to be generated everyday from 1st October
· Fiscal deficit kept at 4.6% of GDP for 2011-12
· Income Tax exemption limit for general category in individual tax payers enhanced from Rs 1,60,000 to Rs 1,80,000
· Qualifying age for senior citizens lowered to 60; senior citizen above 80 year to get Rs.5,00,000 IT exemption
· Surcharge on corporate lowered to 5%