Choice
Overview
India devotes approximately 34% of its expenditure on benefit and welfare schemes every year. As per the Union Budget 2019, Government of India shall spend over INR 7 Lakh Crore on Central Sector Schemes and INR 3 Lakh Crore on Schemes for the welfare of vulnerable groups in FY 19-20. In order to tackle the issues in delivery & distribution of funds in the welfare schemes to the desired beneficiaries, a beneficiary led welfare management platform is proposed to be formulated. The platform shall bring a paradigm shift in the delivery of welfare schemes in the country by providing beneficiaries with the ability to choose the nature & number of benefits they would like to avail of from the Government. Even though a significant amount is spent across all platforms, many such schemes fall short on delivering the required impact to the intended beneficiary. Key reasons identified for the same are as follows:
A handful of schemes determine the overall budget Of the 675 welfare schemes in the Union Budget 2017-18, 7 schemes alone contributed for over 50 percent of the expenditure.
Duplication of beneficiaries Duplication of beneficiaries across schemes leads to welfare reaching only a handful of households.
Low Utilization Fund utilization in such welfare schemes is also a major area of concern. For example, as per a study by NIPFP, fund utilization of the National Health Mission scheme was approx. 55% in the year 2016-17. This percentage was even lower in the North Eastern States.
High administrative costs A large part of the funds utilized in such schemes is spent on publicity and IEC activities to reach out to the target group of beneficiaries.