In a bid to arrest the slowdown in the Indian economy, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely give a major boost to the grassroots economy and resource-starved sectors in his 2012-13 Budget next month. Revealing this, a Planning Commission member who sought anonymity said Wednesday that the finance ministry had agreed to hike Gross Budgetary Support for planned expenses by 18 per cent to `5,21,000 crores, which is `80,000 crores more than in the current financial year.
As the deficit gap between the government’s revenue (earning) and expenses is likely to go beyond five per cent of GDP, against the projected 4.6 per cent, the hike is aimed at giving resources to resource-starved sectors like the Railways, civil aviation (meaning Air India) and the UPA’s flagship programmes. With this, it is hoped in government circles that the economy might again come back to a high growth track, after it slowed to below seven per cent in the current fiscal.
Of the total hike, the Railways and Air India are likely to get `5,000 crores each for capital expenditure. A big chunk will also go to universalise health insurance, to be administered by the labour ministry. “The exact amount to be given for the insurance scheme is yet to be decided, calculations are being done. But it will be a sizeable amount,” a source said.
With the proposed National Food Security Act on the anvil, it is learnt `5,000 crores has been earmarked to revamp the public distribution system, with the money given to states to computerise the PDS network. Skill development is another area which will get substantial funds.