Articles by Mita Choudhury

Since April 2014, funds for various centrally sponsored schemes, including the National Health Mission, are being transferred to implementing agencies through state treasuries. This has added an additional layer in the institutional structure for nhm fund flows. We analyse the utilisation of nhm funds in 29 states in two recent years, and the time taken for release of these funds from state treasuries to implementing agencies in three selected states: Bihar, Maharashtra, and Odisha. On average, only about 55% of funds allocated for nhm were utilised in 2015–16 and 2016–17. In Bihar and Maharashtra, this was partly due to significant delays in release of funds from state treasuries to implementing agencies. The delays were a result of complex administrative procedures associated with the release of nhm funds from state treasuries.

Preliminary evidence on the impact of the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission suggests that there has been an increase in central transfers and social sector expenditures in a number of states in 2015–16. This evidence is biased upwards due to two factors. First, much of the gains have been measured with respect to a low base year. Second, the inferences are affected by systematic differences between actuals, revised estimates, and budget estimates. Using a modified base and comparable estimates for 15 major states, it is seen that these are much smaller. Besides, in most states, social services have received a lower priority over economic services in 2015–16.