Economic Survey 2024: Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government, which will present the Union Budget 2024 – the first budget after winning the third term – on July 23, stated that spending alone on welfare schemes cannot guarantee outcomes.
“The new welfare approach bears in mind that spending alone cannot guarantee outcomes. It lays a strong focus on transforming the implementation and effectiveness of government programmes, thus increasing the impact per rupee spent,” it said emphasising on cost-effectiveness.
Quoting Karthik Muralidharan, economist and professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, from ‘Accelerating India’s Development: A state-led roadmap for effective governance’, the survey stated that a focus on growth or development will not lead to satisfactory outcomes unless there is efficiency of converting spending into outcomes. Simply increasing budget allocation to social sectors will not help, it said.
“To this end, the government is emphasising process reforms and accountability, interwoven with the utilisation of technology. The digitisation of healthcare, education and governance has been a force multiplier for every rupee spent on a welfare programme. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and Jan Dhan Yojana-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity have been boosters of fiscal efficiency and minimisation of leakages, with more than Rs 38 lakh crore having been transferred via DBT since its inception in 2013. The Government has also implemented a goal-oriented approach for budgetary allocation, comprising expected outputs and outcomes of the schemes, as part of the Outcome Budget, which has been accompanying the conventional annual Budget since FY18,” it stated.
NITI Aayog has developed an ‘Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework’ for major central sector and centrally sponsored schemes since FY20, it highlighted.
The survey highlighted stated that approaches such as Aspirational Districts Programme, competition among states and districts led to a substantial improvement in several indicators such as health and nutrition, education, and reporting saturation in the basic infrastructure such as electricity connections, all-weather roads, basic sanitation facilities, etc
“This transformed approach to welfare further encompassed prioritising social enablers. Accordingly, stress was placed on investments in health and sanitation,” it stated highlighting missions like Mission Indradhanush, and Swachh Bharat Mission. It called Atal Pension Yojana (APY), PM Jeevan Jyoti Yojana (PMJJY), and PM Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) – all launched in 2015 – success stories.
It also highlighted the increasing private sector participation through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).