This Palgrave Pivot analyzes the effectiveness of public policy by State governments in India on social services, in terms of the public expenditure incurred on social services such as health and education. The book addresses two key questions: to what extent does the population size act as the main determining factor in guiding the expenditure allocation to provision of social services; and, secondly, to what extent is government spend transformed to the end results of better human development indicators.
In India, the Constitution provides for the supply of basic social services by the governments at the central, state and local levels. Accordingly, substantial allocations are made in the budgets for education, health and other social services. Approximately 20% of the total expenditure of the Central level is allocated for the social sector services. At the State level the supply of basic social services is a key component of the budgets and as much as 30% of the government expenditure is earmarked, although the proportion varies across the states. However, to what extent the expenditure results in social development are not known. Wrong prioritization and lack of accountability can reduce the effectiveness of these budget allocations.
The author identifies existing constraints to effective spending and suggests remedial measures; seeks to understand, from a financing perspective, how the Millennium Development Goals have been achieved in India, and provides policy makers with a framework to analyze public expenditure and how it relates to education and health outcomes.
- ISBN: 978-3-319-54863-0
- Editorial: Palgrave Macmillan
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Fecha Publicación: 20/07/2017
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés