The civil society groups have criticised the budget terming it high on rhetoric and less on commitment towards inclusive development. “The finance minister acknowledged the need for ‘paying special attention’ to disadvantaged sections of population, but the attention paid to disadvantaged sections in terms of the resource allocations in the budget falls far short of the requirements at the present juncture,” said Subrat Das, executive director, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), Delhi based think-tank.
 
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has seen a small increase from Rs 25,555 crore in 2012-13 (BE) to Rs 27,258 crore in 2013-14 (BE). “This raises a concern about the sense of urgency of the government for implementing the RTE Act as the SSA is vehicle for implementing the RTA,” Das said.

There is a marginal increase in allocation for health sector and rural development. In 2012-13 (BE), the ministry of health and family welfare was Rs 34,388 crore, later in the Revised Estimate (RE) reduced to Rs 29,273 crore for 2012-13. The allocation for 2013-14 (BE) shows a small increase to Rs 37,330 crore.

Even the government’s scheme for senior citizens in the budget presentation is like a reference. The finance minister in his speech has 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. A simple calculation will tell you how much they got? For the 1, 57, 000 elderly, Rs 1.5 crore is the proposed allocation per district, which when translated into per capita per annum terms works out to a mere Rs 95 per elderly person. “The elderly have been once again been betrayed,” Baba Adhav, a social activist said.

Even for Jairam Ramesh, who is the driving force behind the rural development ministry got a marginal increase. There is nothing much to cheer for his ministry as in 2012-13 (BE), it was allocated Rs 73,221.8 crore, and in 2013-14 (BE), it has been increased marginally to Rs 74,477.6 crore.

Aruna Roy who is the member of Sonia Gandhi led national advisory council has criticised the funding for MNREGA in the budget. The allocation for MGNREGA was Rs 33,000 crore in 2012-13 (BE), which has been reduced to Rs 29,387 crore in 2012-13 (RE); it is the same Rs 33,000 crore in 2013-14 (BE). “The allocation was actually on the lower side, in the real sense,” Roy said.

According to civil society groups, commitment is lacking on UPA’s much publicised Food Security programme. The finance minister has approved an additional Rs 10,000 crore for the national food security. Kavita Srivastava coordinator of food security campaign termed it as “peanuts.” She added, “It shows that the government is not serious about addressing hunger and eliminating malnutrition in the country.”

“This expectation of the government 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 sense of urgency on its part to enact the bill but also the gross underestimation of the additional resources required,” Subrat Das of CBGA said.

However, the ratio of union government’s gross tax receipts (i.e. including the share of states in the same) 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).