• It is seen that government is reducing number of schemes in various ministries rather than focusing on better public service delivery.
• Over 50% of current central government-sponsored programmes have been eliminated, absorbed, redesigned, or rationalised into other programmes over the past three years.

Reduction of govt schemes in different Ministry

Ministry of Women and Child Development

• Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi, and Poshan 2.0 are only three of the 19 programmes being offered by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• The "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" scheme was one of 14 schemes that were replaced by  Poshan 2.0. Mission Shakti.

Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairy

• In the case of the Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairy, just two schemes remain out of 12.
• Additionally, the Ministry has ended three schemes which include Dairying through Cooperatives, National Dairy Plan-II, etc.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare

• For Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, there are now three out of 20 schemes including Krishonnati Yojana, Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperatives and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.
• However, there is little information on the National Project on Organic Farming or the National Agroforestry Policy.

Challenges and Problems

• There are challenges such as funding cuts, disbursement and utilisation of funds.
• As of June 2022, ₹1.2 lakh crore of funds meant for central government-sponsored schemes are with banks which earn interest income for the Centre.

Challenges for Women safety schemes

• The Nirbhaya fund (2013) focuses on funding projects to improve the public safety of women in public spaces and encourage their participation in economic and social activities.
• The ₹1,000 crore was allocated to the fund annually (2013-16), and remained largely unspent.
• As of FY21-22, ₹6,214 crore was allocated to the fund since its launch, but only ₹4,138 crore was disbursed.
• Of this, just ₹2,922 crore was utilised; ₹660 crore was disbursed to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, but only ₹181 crore was utilised as of July 2021.
• Yet, a variety of women-focused development schemes across States are being turned down or ended.
• Meanwhile, women continue to face significant risks while in public spaces.

Challenges for Farmers Schemes

• Fertilizer subsidies have decreased over the past few years, and actual government spending on fertilisers in FY20-21 totalled 1,27,921 crore.
• However, this hasn''t spared farmers either.
• In the FY21-22 Budget, the allocation was ₹79,529 crore (later revised to ₹1,40,122 crore amidst the COVID-19 pandemic).
• In the FY22-23 Budget, the allocation was ₹1,05,222 crore.
• Allocation for NPK fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) was 35% lower than revised estimates in FY21-22.
• Such budgetary cuts, when fertilizer prices have risen sharply after the Ukraine war, have led to fertilizer shortages and farmer anguish.

Challenges for Employment Schemes

• The allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) went down by 25% in the FY22-23 Budget.
• While earlier this year, with the allocated budget at ₹73,000 crore when compared to the FY21-22 revised estimates of ₹98,000 crore.
• The Economic Survey 2022-23 has highlighted that demand for the scheme was higher than pre-pandemic levels as rural distress continues.
• Anecdotal cases show that actual funding disbursal for MGNREGA has often been delayed, leading to a decline in confidence in the scheme.
• The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (June 2020, for a period of 125 days) sought to provide immediate employment and livelihood opportunities to the rural poor.
• In this scheme, 50.78 crore person days of employment were provided at an expenditure of approximately ₹39,293 crore (against a budget of ₹50,000 crore).
• However, the scheme subsumed 15 other schemes.
• With between 60 million to 100 million migrant workers who seek informal jobs, such a scheme should have been expanded.

Challenges in Health Sector

• For Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), who are the first responders, there have been delays in salaries for up to six months.
• Regularisation of their jobs continues to be a struggle, with wages and honorariums stuck at minimum levels.

Challenges for Wildlife Schemes

• Funding for wildlife habitat development under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has declined: from ₹165 crore ( FY18-19), to ₹124.5 crore (FY19-20), to ₹87.6 crore (FY20-21).
• Allocations for Project Tiger have been slashed ₹323 crore ( FY18-19) to ₹194.5 crore ( FY20-21).

Suggestions

• Rather than downsizing government schemes and cutting funding, one should right size the government.
• The govt need to build capacity for an efficient civil service to meet today’s challenges, i.e., providing a corruption-free welfare system, running a modern economy and providing better public goods.

Rather than having a target of fewer government schemes, public should raise our aspirations towards better public service delivery.