Advocacy & Government: Punjab has cut its social sector spending by almost 50 percent over the past four years from INR 48,270 crore in 2016-17 to INR 24,896.10 crore in 2019-20, according to a report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The report titled ‘State Finances: A Study of Budgets 2018-19’ further highlighted that the state’s per capita social sector spending stands at INR 6,981, much lower than the national average of INR 8,962.
In terms of welfare schemes such as its flagship Smart Ration Card Scheme (Atta-Dal scheme), the Punjab government only recently provided sugar and tea leaves to the community as promised under the scheme in 2018.
Under its farm loan waiver schemes, the state has waived only 46 percent of the amount announced by it, according to another RBI report accessed by The Tribune. It has so far waived institutional debt of INR 57,332 crore with INR 24,652.76 crore of non-institutional debt still remaining. Comparatively, states such as Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu have waived more than 70 percent of the farmers’ loans.
Read this article on how to ensure the long-term survival of the social sector, beyond the pandemic.