CAG: Punjab shying away from spending on health, education

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5

The state seems to be shirking its responsibility on health and education as there has been a consistent decline in Punjab’s spending in both sectors.

As per a report tabled in the Vidhan Sabha today, it was found that the government’s spending on education declined by more than two per cent and 0.63 per cent on health between 2014-15 and 2018-19.

The spending on education fell from 15.25 per cent of the aggregate expenditure in 2014-15 to 12.99 per cent in 2018-19. In the same time, the health sector saw aggregate expenditure falling from 4.73 per cent to 4.10 per cent.

The report found that Punjab’s spending in both sectors was much lower than the other states. “Increased priority to development expenditure results in better human and physical asset formation which has the potential of further increasing the growth prospects of the state. In Punjab, the ratio of development and aggregate expenditure has been lower than the average of general category states (GCS). The share of development spending in the aggregate expenditure is 50.24 per cent, which is below the GCS average of 67.04 per cent.

Apart from education and health, Punjab’s performance in other sectors was also poor than other states. Punjab’s ratio of capital and aggregate expenditure was far below the GCS average from 2014-15 to 2018-19. It declined from the already low level of 6.24 per cent in 2014-15 to 3.05 per cent in 2018-19.

However, the state government’s aggregate expenditure as proportion of the GSDP increased from 14.08 per cent in 2014-15 to 15.17 per cent in 2018-19 whereas for the GCS, it increased from 15.99 per cent to 16.05 per cent during the same period.

“The government may consider according a higher priority to asset creation by increasing capital expenditure and raising the outlay on social services, education and health for enhancing the level of human development,” the CAG observed.

Negligible capital expenditure

Capital expenditure facilitates asset creation and generates opportunities for higher growth. The ratio of capital and aggregate expenditure was far below the GCS average. The GCS average increased from 14.02 per cent in 2014-15 to 14.28 per cent in 2018-19. However, the ratio declined in Punjab from 6.24 per cent in 2014-15 to 3.05 per cent in 2018-19.