By TCN News,
Aligarh: Noted expert on public finances and former Director of Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi, Prof. Pulin B. Nayak said that education and health care challenging areas where union Government has failed to provide basic facilities to its citizens in the Union Budget 2013-14.
He was delivering an extension lecture on “Union Budget 2013-14 and Development Prospects for the Indian Economy” organized by the Interdisciplinary Centre of Development Studies (ICDS) at the Aligarh Muslim University.
Prof. Nayak said that public expenditure on health in this country was one of the lowest in the world i.e. 1.3 percent of the GDP and forty percent children of 0-5 years were suffering from malnutrition.
Extension lecture on Union Budget 2013-14 organized
He said that the Union budget had no serious commitment for education and the expansion of private universities was not serving the cause of education. He said that the development process was going the wrong way and though Mr. Chidambram had tried hard to put up the things in a hurried way.
Prof. Nayak said that no serious efforts were made to provide relief to poor farmers in general. He observed that the budget is not a populist budget though the elections are round the corner. He however termed it as sober and a well-thought budget.
Underlining the background of India’s economic growth, Prof. Nayak said that the growth rate picked up in 1980s and reached its peak during 2004-06. Later, India’s growth rate was also affected by global economic crisis in 2007-08.
Earlier, Prof. Abdul Wahab, Chairman, Department of Economics welcomed the guest speaker. He said that the ICDS was established to conduct surveys and researches on socio-economic conditions of Muslims of India.