At the ET Global Business Summit (GBS) last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminded his audience how his government has delivered welfare worth Rs 28 lakh crore in cash transfers since 2014. That works out to 40% more than what GoI expects its share of tax revenue to be in 2022-23. Transfer payments of such magnitude can be attempted only when there is a degree of certainty that they will reach intended beneficiaries. Fixing leaks in the welfare delivery pipeline using population-wide biometric data and high tele-density was among the Modi government’s first priorities. It has reengineered — reimagined, going by this year’s GBS theme — India’s chronic failure to redistribute income.
This success has had one particular fortunate spinoff. Since the intended welfare beneficiary is more likely to be a woman than a man, cash transfers have by themselves narrowed India’s gender divide. This is apart from women-centric welfare schemes, such as clean cooking fuel and toilets, designed to improve their score in human development. Gender-agnostic universal health insurance and rural employment guarantee also tilt welfare in favour of women, who find themselves excluded from social security provided to the workforce on account of low participation.
India is closing the gender gap faster under this government with maternal mortality, adolescent fertility, school enrolment, labour force engagement and political participation posting improvements. Gender development is also keeping pace with increases in life expectancy and years spent in school, while the relatively static female per-capita income is a debatable metric with what India regards as a narrow definition limiting work to market-driven activity.
The Modi government’s piloting efforts to guarantee a minimum income are also bridging the gender gap faster than the rest of the world. It has also made a serious dent in poverty eradication. India’s economic performance has been one of the highlights of the post-pandemic world, while debt distress builds up among its similarly ranked neighbours, affecting their ability to fund their development agenda.
This also poses a dilemma for Gol, which intends to spend upwards of Rs 13 lakh crore in 2023-24 on capital expenditure to keep India growing at its current rate of 6.5% or above in the medium term. Social sector spending has been growing faster than overall governmentexpenditure. But the outsized allocations in successive budgets to building physical infrastructure are crowding out health and education outlays. In the budget for the next fiscal year, apart from affordable housing, allocations for most centrally sponsored schemes have been enhanced modestly, while subsidies have been rationalised following a spike in fuel and fertiliser prices.
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-commentary/maximising-lakshmi-modi-sarkar-understands-that-to-economically-empower-women-is-to-strengthen-the-economy/articleshow/98070940.cms