The 2022-23 budget does not prioritise health and the problem of inequality: Population Foundation of India

“Could have done much more to bridge the widening gap between the rich and poor in the country,” public health expert Poonam Muttreja

Population Foundation of India welcomes the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s recognition of the multifold challenges that have emerged as a result of the pandemic. The government acknowledged the effect of the pandemic on mental health, and has announced the launch of a national tele-mental health programme, which will include a network of 23 tele-mental health centres. The initiative to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes I to XII through E-Vidya to make up for the loss of learning during the pandemic is a promising step.

While we welcome the mention of the needs of women and young people in the Budget speech, it has not translated into adequate budgetary allocations for these groups. This is despite the fact that the differential impact of the pandemic on vulnerable groups such as women was widely reported, including the gender divide in access to technology and disruption in women’s access to health services. Schemes mentioned in the speech, such as Saksham Anganwadi, already exist and have seen almost no increase in their budget over the previous financial year. If we take inflation into account, these budgets have declined.

Public health does not seem to be a priority in the 2022-23 budget.Even the allocations for the National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in schools, now renamed as Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman, declined by 11 percent from Rs 11,500 crores in 2021-22 to Rs 10,233.75 crores in 2022-23. The Finance Minister also did not mention any announcements around how the ongoing nutrition crisis will be tackled, despite the rising levels of anaemia in the country as indicated by the recently released fifth round of the National Family Health Survey.

Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India, said, “The World Inequality Report 2022 brought out by the World Inequality Lab points out that India is among the most unequal countries in the world. The top 10 per cent hold 57 per cent of total national income and the bottom 50 per cent merely 13 per cent of total national income.  According to the report, India stands out as a poor and very unequal country, with an affluent elite. Clearly, India can be proud of its growth performance, but that is it. This budget could have done much more to bridge the widening gap between the rich and poor in the country.”

The budget allocation for the Department of Health and Family Welfare increased by 16.5 per cent over the last Financial Year 2021-22. Allocations for Central Sector Family Welfare schemes, which includes the budgets for procurement and distribution of contraceptives to the states have increased by 25 per cent from Rs 387.15 crores in 2021-22 to Rs 484.35 crores. However, it should be noted that there was 35 per cent decline in allocation for this component last year.

“The economic survey attributed the fall in fertility rates to increased use of contraceptives, especially modern methods. Going forward, there is a strong need to expand the basket of contraceptive choices, to include long-acting reversible contraceptives such as implants in the public-health system, and strengthen quality of care to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of India’s large young population”, Muttreja said.