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‘Expenditure on Social Sector should go up to 50% of the total Budget with a focus on quality healthcare for tribals and agriculture sector’
Bhubaneswar, January 12,2021 ( Odisha Samachar )- : The COVID-19 is a crisis of unprecedented nature. This has led to a serious, multi-dimensional crisis with the marginalised sections, including particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) being affected the most. It has also affected lives and livelihoods to a great extent. Hence, the State Government should made special budgetary allocation in the State Budget 2021-22 to provide quality healthcare to tribals, besides bringing a specific mission for natural farming aligned with all the regenerative services, opined experts in a webinar organised by the Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD) and Odisha Budget Accountability Centre (OBAC).
Participating in the webinar on pre-budget consultation, Mishra Suja, a farmer from Khairiput block in Malkangiri district highlighted the lack of irrigation facility in his locality while another farmer from Dasamantpur block described how they are facing the problem of shortage of seeds.
A teacher from Keonjhar district highlighted the lack of infrastructure and logistic support for online teaching and said that many students have deprived of being benefitted from online teaching facility.
Santoshi Nayak, a member of a SHG focused on the need of training for SHG members while Anganwadi worker Mamata Gantayat demanded implementation of ‘equal pay for equal work’. She also said that Government is not paying the market cost of eggs being distributed to the children in Anganwadi centres as a result they are facing problems.
Coronavirus pandemic has caused multi-dimensional crisis. Under such circumstances, it is evident that the upcoming financial year is a challenging one for the State Economy. Simultaneously, the need for budget allocation in the areas of social sector such as health, education, WASH and food & nutrition security including agriculture has emerged as priority areas than ever before.
The participants opined that expenditure on social sector should go up to 50 percent of the total budget. They also highlighted the State Government’s failure in spending 8 percent of the State budget for public health by 2020, as envisaged by the National Health Policy. The ratio stands at 5.13 percent during 2020-21, said the participants.
The participants also suggested for setting up one umbrella scheme for diagnosis and treatment of various disease. Varied schemes and programmes have been designed to provide diagnosis and treatment at the public health facilities free of cost by Central and State Governments. NIDAN, JSSK, SAHAY, Ama Clinic, Sampurna, Niramay are to name a few. Except the monetary benefit schemes such as JSY and MAMATA, all other schemes may be subsumed into a single window for better transparency and accountability of services.
Highlighting the difficulties being faced by the people in hilly areas in getting drinking water, the participants opined that budgetary allocation for Spot Water Sources needs to be made to provide piped drinking water to households in hilly and mountainous regions.
They also suggested that budgetary provision should be made in the State Budget for sewerage system in rural areas.
“In 20 blocks in Bargarh, Bolangir and Kalahandi district of Odisha, the minimum MGNREGA wage rate has been fixed at Rs 286.30. It should be applicable across the State,” asked the participants. Apart from existing agricultural support activities, MGNREGS can also be extended to strengthen the agricultural supply chains, they said.
CYSD founder Jagadananda gave the welcome address. Among others, coordinator Basanta Kumar Nayak, A Rabindra of WASHN, health expert Dr Aquinas Edassery, Prof Gouranga Chandra Nanda, Prabhat Kumar Mishra, Dr Satyapriya Rath and Nabanita participated in the webinar.
