Govt to make provisions in Budget for higher spending

Key schemes under health, education, rural development, and women & child development departments are expected to get more funds over and above the expected GBS of Rs 2,40,000 crore for Central schemes. The GBS works out to be around 60 per cent of the funds individual ministries had demanded. Some ministries may even be given less than 8 per cent hike in their budgetary allocation for the year. This is bound to upset some ministries.

With the provision that new schemes may also be announced during the course of budget preparation for which fund provisions have to be made, special mention could be made for schemes over and above the allocation under the GBS.

For instance, in education, while the Human Resource Development Ministry had sought funds to the tune of Rs 53,000 crore, the allocation that has been worked out stands at around Rs 33,000 crore. Even though this represents a hike of around 16 per cent, the Government may make a special announcement of around Rs 1000 crore for schemes such as the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA).

Similarly, in health, even thought the hike in allocation for 2008-09 is expected to be around 19 per cent, this is not near the 30 per cent increase in spending sought by the Ministry. Indications are that like on the lines of education, a special allocation of Rs 1500 crore is expected to be made for medical insurance scheme. On the same lines, for rural development, though the GBS allocation is expected to be around Rs 2000 crore lower than ministry’s demand of around Rs 18,000 crore, an additional provision is expected to be made during the course of the year for schemes under this ministry.