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As a run up to the Union budget due on 16 March 2012, the Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research, in Delhi has analysed the government data and come up with a four-part paper series on Sanitration, Education, Employment and Health.

Sanitation: In the Sanitation series, using data from the TSC website the Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research, in Delhi shows no correlation between the amount of funds being spent in a state and improvement there. It states that although Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) has been there for over twelve years there is slow progress. Although the number of rural households without toilets has dropped from 78% in 2001 to 27% as of 2 February 2012, usage remains a problem. Download Report

Education : Similarly, even after more than a year after the passage of the Right to Education Act, the government’s allocation for education has increased substantially, but expenditure has not kept up. Importantly, these increased allocations have not resulted in improved learning outcomes. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the government’s flagship programme to universalize primary education and increase literacy rates. Download Report

Employment: Since 2006-07, the ministry of rural development’s (MoRD’s) budget has increased nearly threefold. Allocations for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) funnels 46% of that funding. Last year, allocations to MoRD accounted for 15% of the government’s budget, but there is a discrepancy between anticipated demand for employment and actual work generated. Download Report

Health: More than seven years after the government launched the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), public health results are spotty. While allocations for health have more than tripled since 2005-06, spending on health and family welfare, as a proportion of the government’s total expenditure, has barely increased from 1.89% to 2.03% in 2010-11. This is extremely low, both in absolute terms, and compared with many other developing countries. Lack of doctors and specialists also remain a serious problem. Download Report