Civil society members reject “savage cuts” in social sector spending

Following the Finance Ministry’s drastic cuts in budgetary allocations for social welfare schemes several eminent economists, politicians, social sector campaign leaders on Thursday have written in strong protest to the Prime Minister urging him to stop budget cuts and use any unspent balances within the sector itself.

“Expenditure cuts have been specifically proposed for these sectors in light of surplus unspent funds that they had accumulated in the previous fiscal year. We must ask why unspent funds existed with these Ministries and whether it relates to implementation failures by the government at various levels,” stated the letter.

Last month, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister describing the belt-tightening as “savage cuts” that would “severely jeopardise the implementation of these [flagship] programmes.” The Ministry of Rural Development has reportedly been asked to slash its budget by over Rs. 20,000 crores.

Pension Parishad along with other eminent signatories have demanded that the Prime Minister must ensure “no budget cuts are made from any social sector funds and that there is no reduction in the funds allocated for the social sector.” Additionally unspent balances and savings are used to fulfil the promises to universalise pensions and enhance pension amounts for the elderly with exclusions.

A smokescreen

“Fiscal prudence is being used as a smokes screen to deny the poor their rights to food, pensions work, education health and life itself,” Aruna Roy, former National Advisory Council (NAC) member and activist told

The Hindu .

“This degree of budget cuts from programmes for the poor is tantamount to human rights violations in these times of continued poverty and spiralling price rise,” added Ms. Roy.

Civil society leaders and political leaders who are signatories to the letter include Ms. Roy, senior economists Utsa Patnaik, Jayati Ghosh, Professor Mary John, senior journalist Seema Mustafa, NAC member A.K. Shiva Kumar, Communist Party of India Rajya Sabha member D. Raja, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, Shiv Sena MP Bharatkumar Raut and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat.