A person turning 18 this year will have grown into adulthood witnessing no small turbulence in the political world. There have been six governments and five prime ministers since 1996.
All but the present prime minister, Narendra Modi, have had to deal with the uneasy phenomenon of coalition politics, where the smallest wrong move could leave you out of power. Each government claims to have different priorities from its predecessor. Critics alleged that the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress focussed too exclusively on rural subsidies and not enough on industrial development. Observers have long said that the Vajpayee government that preceded it lost on the strength of its India Shining campaign, which claimed improvements few seemed to have felt.
Yet, the first budget of any government is of particular significance. It gives ruling parties an opportunity to prove to the people that they meant the things they said in their election campaigns, and sets the tone for the start of the five-year term.
It is interesting to note then, that despite varying ideology and rapid transformations in society, allocations in the planned expenditure of the five governments that have been in power in the last two decades have not varied that much. The first year from which government of India budgets are available online is 1996.
Here is how five items from five budgets presented by governments in their first year of power compare.
Interest Due
This has consistently been the largest item on the budget. It is the payment for interest due on old loans taken by previous governments. And though the proportion of repayment has stayed the same with reference to total expenditure, the actual amount has increased almost seven times.
India allotted Rs 60,000 crore to this category in 1996 under the Deve Gowda government. Modi's government announced that it would repay Rs 4.2 lakh crore this year. Yet, another generation will be born to an ever-increasing debt burden.
Defence
India has traditionally been a big spender on defence and there is no change in this in the budget. Expenditure increased in 1999 around the time of the Kargil War, but subsequently fell back to the normal rate during years of peace: a little over an eighth of total expenditure.
Subsidies
Subsidies have doubled from 7% of the budget in 1996 to almost 15% this year. While it is assumed most of this money goes directly to the poor – and a large chunk of it does protect the poorest people in India from food shocks – a great deal of subsidy money helps keep fuel and fertilisers affordable for industrial and agricultural purposes. They also make it cheaper for the rich to drive around in sports utility vehicles.
Health
Despite massive nationwide programmes like the National Rural Health Mission, a successful polio eradication campaign and an ongoing one against tuberculosis, public spending on health, which began to decline as a share of total expenditure with the Vajpayee government, has never quite recovered. The government today is spending less of its budget on health than it did in 1996.
Education
This is one of the few social sectors where there has been a marked increase in expenditure. The 2009 spike in education expenditure came months before the Right to Education Act was finally passed in the monsoon session of that year, after the first UPA government proposed it in 2005. Narendra Modi has promised to raise the skills of young people in India, but his first budget has not seen a major increase in budgetary allocations to either higher or lower education.
All but the present prime minister, Narendra Modi, have had to deal with the uneasy phenomenon of coalition politics, where the smallest wrong move could leave you out of power. Each government claims to have different priorities from its predecessor. Critics alleged that the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress focussed too exclusively on rural subsidies and not enough on industrial development. Observers have long said that the Vajpayee government that preceded it lost on the strength of its India Shining campaign, which claimed improvements few seemed to have felt.
Yet, the first budget of any government is of particular significance. It gives ruling parties an opportunity to prove to the people that they meant the things they said in their election campaigns, and sets the tone for the start of the five-year term.
It is interesting to note then, that despite varying ideology and rapid transformations in society, allocations in the planned expenditure of the five governments that have been in power in the last two decades have not varied that much. The first year from which government of India budgets are available online is 1996.
Here is how five items from five budgets presented by governments in their first year of power compare.
Interest Due
This has consistently been the largest item on the budget. It is the payment for interest due on old loans taken by previous governments. And though the proportion of repayment has stayed the same with reference to total expenditure, the actual amount has increased almost seven times.
India allotted Rs 60,000 crore to this category in 1996 under the Deve Gowda government. Modi's government announced that it would repay Rs 4.2 lakh crore this year. Yet, another generation will be born to an ever-increasing debt burden.
Defence
India has traditionally been a big spender on defence and there is no change in this in the budget. Expenditure increased in 1999 around the time of the Kargil War, but subsequently fell back to the normal rate during years of peace: a little over an eighth of total expenditure.
Subsidies
Subsidies have doubled from 7% of the budget in 1996 to almost 15% this year. While it is assumed most of this money goes directly to the poor – and a large chunk of it does protect the poorest people in India from food shocks – a great deal of subsidy money helps keep fuel and fertilisers affordable for industrial and agricultural purposes. They also make it cheaper for the rich to drive around in sports utility vehicles.
Health
Despite massive nationwide programmes like the National Rural Health Mission, a successful polio eradication campaign and an ongoing one against tuberculosis, public spending on health, which began to decline as a share of total expenditure with the Vajpayee government, has never quite recovered. The government today is spending less of its budget on health than it did in 1996.
Education
This is one of the few social sectors where there has been a marked increase in expenditure. The 2009 spike in education expenditure came months before the Right to Education Act was finally passed in the monsoon session of that year, after the first UPA government proposed it in 2005. Narendra Modi has promised to raise the skills of young people in India, but his first budget has not seen a major increase in budgetary allocations to either higher or lower education.
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