Gujarat fails to utilise budget for women, children’s nutrition

Even as lakhs of women and children in the state are malnourished and suffer from poor health, it emerges that the state government has not been able to fully utilise the budgetary allocations made for women and child development department, of which nutrition is the largest component.

An analysis of the budget documents shows that in 2016-17, the original provision for women and child development was Rs 1,952 crore, while actual spending was Rs 1,217 crore, i.e. Rs 735 crore or 38% lower than the estimate. A large chunk of the budget was unspent even in the years before that. For 2017-18, the original budget estimate was Rs 2,057 crore, while revised estimate was lowered to Rs 1,547 crore, i.e. Rs 510 crore lower. 

For 2018-19, the state government has made budgetary provision of Rs 2,349.5 crore for the department, but looking at the trend in the past few years, there are question marks over whether the funds would be fully utilised or not.

Pathey, which analyses the state budget in detail every year, said that the state government had earmarked Rs 1,651 crore for nutrition in 2016-17, while actual spending was to the tune of Rs1,145 crore, i.e. nearly Rs 506 crore lower.  Similarly, for the ongoing year, the original estimate was Rs 1,780 crore, which was revised to Rs 1,337 crore. For the next year, the government has made provision of Rs 1,999 crore for nutrition.

The Pathey analysis also reveals that the budget for women and child development department as a share of the state’s budget has gone up marginally for 2018-19 after declining for several years. 

For 2013-14, the budget of women and child development department was 1.64% of the state’s overall budget, while fell to 1.40% in 2014-15. The department’s share fell further to 1.35% in 2015-16, and to 1.29% in 2016-17. Incidentally, this was the time when Gujarat was headed by Anandiben Patel, the state’s first woman chief minister. 

REPORT CARD

Analysis reveals that women and child development department’s share in the state’s budget shrunk further to 1.19% in 2017-18, but is projected to rise slightly to 1.27% for 2018-19. For 2017-18, the original budget estimate was Rs 2,057 crore, while revised estimate was lowered to Rs 1,547 crore.