Notebandi Sounds a Death Knell for Already Neglected Social Sector

Demonetisation may hit the social sector, already reeling under lower budgetary allocation, writes Ravi Kumar.

Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP in India is around 3.1 percent (2014-15 BE) and for health has been around 1.2 percent (2014-15 BE). BJP’s election manifesto (2014) said that it would increase this figure for education to 6 percent of the GDP. The same manifesto said, “Highest priority would be given to address the acute shortage of teachers and researchers, quality of education and research.” Nothing seems to have moved on that front either.

On health, BJP in its manifesto said that it would like to “initiate the 'National Health Assurance Mission', with a clear mandate to provide universal healthcare that is not only accessible and affordable, but also effective, and reduces the out of pocket spending for the common man...”.

Increasing access to education, health and improving the quality of education should have been paramount priority for the BJP government.

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Abysmal Dropout Rates

NSSO reports on education published in 2015 point out that in 2014 the Net Attendance Ratio for secondary education has been as low as 52 percent and 51 percent for males and females respectively. The same figure at the higher secondary level is 38 percent and 37 percent.

The dropout rate/discontinuation from the formal education system in the age group of 5-15 has been around 60 percent in rural areas and 43 percent in urban areas. While the cost of education for individuals has gone up as indicated by the massive increase in the private expenditure on education, the government schooling system is not the most popular one.

Only 37.5 percent of students at the secondary and higher secondary level attended government schools in urban areas. The average annual private expenditure has more than doubled for general as well as technical education from 2007-08 to 2014.

If one combines the ‘financial constraints’ and ‘engaged in economic activities’ as reasons for the drop out, one finds that over 50 percent males and 20 percent females drop out for these reasons. Around 30 percent females drop out because they are engaged in domestic activities.

Neglecting Education Sector

And this is happening in a situation in which the ‘Economic Survey 2015-16’ says that around 91 percent workers are in the informal sector which faces immense insecurity, as has become evident in the initial days of demonetisation. A huge chunk of workers are rendered unemployed or underpaid.

There is evidence from NSSO reports as latest as 2014, which indicate that the poor, the marginalised castes and girls are deprived of education, in terms of access to begin with. The 2014-15 data of the MHRD puts the dropout rate among Scheduled Castes at the secondary level at around 18.6 percent and among Scheduled Tribes at around 27.2 percent.

For a government which wants to launch ‘Digital Literacy Mission’, providing good quality education and good health services to everybody is the first step in the development of a society and nation. No substantial step has been taken in this direction. Instead of directing all attention to this agenda, it launches new schemes and directs the higher education institutions to ensure that they implement the Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan through students and faculty members.

Even if the Prime Minister had looked at the statistics of his own ministry (NSSO statistics) which says that only 12.4 percent of population aged 14 years and above are able to use internet to send emails, he could have understood the need to address the basic questions of education and health first.

Health Report Card Disturbing

An August 2016 report by the consultancy firms KPMG and OPPI pointed out the dismal health scenario in the country. Their end argument is obviously that the private sector needs to play a greater role but the numbers are startling:

• Number of hospital beds in India per 1,000 population is 0.9.
• India has lowest number of physicians per 10,000 population among BRIC nations.
• Infant mortality rate of 38/1000 live births and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of 174/100,000 live births in 2015 is quite high, compared to other BRIC partners.
• Deaths due to non-communicable diseases account for nearly 60 percent of total deaths annually.
• Around 63 million Indians are in debt due to health expenditure and a third of population is driven below poverty line due to out-of-pocket expenditure on health and so on and so forth.

Demonetisation has unleashed a number of debates on its impact on the economy, one of them being how the focus of the government has shifted from black money to a 'cashless' economy. In the initial phases, some demonetisation supporters were expressing hope about a possible increase in spending in the social sector by the Government of India once RBI reclaims all the black money.

However, that debate is not to be heard anymore as the government's black money claims seem untenable and the intent is more about how to bring every penny stored in an Indian household into circulation and add to the strengthening of finance capital.

Also Read: Note Ban: A Blunt Instrument That May Spark Greater Economic Evils

Cost Incurred in Note Ban

Irrespective of what will happen in the next few months and possibly years, it is amply clear that a lot of money is being wasted on this whole process. Initial calculations by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy had put the transaction cost of the Government of India and the RBI at a staggering Rs 16,800 crore. On 15 December, the NITI Aayog announced that nearly Rs 340 crore would be spent on different kinds of awards to be offered through two schemes, namely the Lucky Grahak Yojana, which will be for consumers, and the Digi-dhan Vyapar Yojna, meant for merchants.

Given that the cost borne to ensure that the demonetisation campaign works would be huge, one often wonders if it was really important to prioritise it over the other more serious social needs such as education and health. The government, it is obvious, is not too keen to address the inequality in access to good education or healthcare.

In a nation with such massive poverty and such abysmal level of governance it is necessary that a system of education and health is created which is at par with private education and healthcare. Such a system can address the issues of unequal access, poor quality of education and health facilities. The current move by the government, which puts all its energy into one programme to ensure that the face and grace of a government is saved, will only lead to aggravation in inequality in the social sector.

(The writer teaches Sociology at South Asian University and his areas of interest are political sociology, political economy of identity politics, education and social movements in South Asia. He can be reached @agnstcapital. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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