Criticising the budget presented by finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday, civil society groups have called it high on rhetoric and low on commitment toward inclusive development.

“The finance minister acknowledged the need for ‘paying special attention’ to disadvantaged sections of the population but the attention paid to these sections in terms of resource allocation in the budget falls far short of requirement,” said Subrat Das, executive director of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), a Delhi-based think-tank.

Education: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has seen a small increase from Rs 25,555 crore in 2012-13 (budget estimate, or BE) to Rs 27,258 crore in 2013-14 (BE). “This raises concern about the sense of urgency of the government for implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act, as SSA is the vehicle for implementing it,” Das said.

Health: The increase in allocation for the health sector and rural development has also been marginal. In 2012-13 (BE), the ministry of health and family welfare was allocated Rs 34,388 crore, which was later reduced to Rs 29,273 crore in the revised estimate (RE) for 2012-13. The allocation for 2013-14 (BE) shows a minor increase to Rs 37,330 crore.

Senior citizens’ welfare: The government’s scheme for senior citizens in the budget is like a “passing reference”, with the beneficiary receiving too little at the end of the day to even merit a mention, civil society group members said. The budget allocated Rs 150 crore for the national programme for healthcare of the elderly to be implemented in 100 districts of 21 states, which includes funding eight geriatric centres. Simple arithmetic tells us that for 1.57 lakh elderly, the proposed allocation for each district is Rs 1.5 crore — translated into per capita per annum, it works out to only Rs 95 per elderly person per year.

“The elderly people have been betrayed once again,” as Baba Adhav, a social activist put it.

Rural development: For Jairam Ramesh, the driving force behind the rural development ministry, there is little to cheer for, as his ministry got only a marginal increase. In 2012-13 (BE), it was allocated Rs 73,221.8 crore, and in 2013-14 (BE), it has been increased to Rs 74,477.6 crore.

MNREGA: Aruna Roy, a member of the Sonia Gandhi-led national advisory council, criticised the funding for MNREGA in the budget. The allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was Rs 33,000 crore in 2012-13 (BE), which has been reduced to Rs 29,387 crore in 2012-13 (RE). The allocation has remained static at Rs 33,000 crore in 2013-14 (BE).

“The allocation was actually on the lower side, (if seen) in the real sense,” Roy remarked.

Food security: On the UPA’s much-publicised food security programme, the commitment is overtly lacking, civil society groups observed. The finance minister has approved an additional Rs 10,000 crore for the national food security scheme, an amount Kavita Srivastva, coordinator of the food security campaign, called “peanuts.” She added, “It just shows that the government is not serious about addressing hunger and eliminating malnutrition in the country.”

Subrat Das of CBGA said, “The government’s expectation that the incremental cost of implementation of the national food security legislation in 2013-14 would be a meagre Rs 10,000 crore not only implies the lack of urgency on its part to enact the bill but also shows gross underestimation of the additional resources required.”

The ratio of union government’s gross tax receipts, including the share of states, is projected to increase from 10.4 percent of GDP in 2012-13 (RE) to only 10.9 percent of GDP in 2013-14 (BE).