UP Tops In Education, Health Spend

Even as mudslinging between Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and UP Chief Minister Mayawati continues, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has added a new angle to the dispute. In its latest report, Assocham has rated UP as the top state as far as spending in education and health sectors is concerned. As per Assocham's assessment, the Mayawati government is spending close to 3.67 per cent of the state's GDP on education. The report suggested that as per figures made available by the state government, a total of Rs 20,359 crore was spent on education in fiscal 2009-10.

Before one wonders if Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against the Mayawati government for not letting schemes run in UP are misplaced, one would do well to take cognition of another rider; Assocham's spokesperson added that the respective state governments are in the habit of providing higher budget outlays on core sectors including education and health but at the end of the year, practically not many states are able to achieve planned spending.

The national average spending is around 0.57 per cent of the GDP on the education sector. Meanwhile, despite a higher allocation, the literacy rate in UP stagnates at around 56.27 per cent mark. As per this report, UP is followed by Bihar which is currently in the good books for its development efforts since it crossed the 11-per-cent-growth mark. The literacy rate of Bihar is still hovering around 47 per cent, and the state has spent Rs 13,147 crore in health sector. The report added that the national average of GDP spent on education is estimated at 0.7 per cent which in case of Bihar is 5.70 per cent and UP, 3.76 per cent of their Gross State Domestic Produce.

However, other states which follow these two are Rajasthan (spending vis-a-vis GDP is 3.57 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (3.38 per cent). The most progressive states come much late, with Punjab and Haryana spending 2.23 per cent and 2.05 per cent, respectively. However, the literacy rate in Rajasthan is close to 60 per cent while in Madhya Pradesh it is 63 per cent. Literacy rate in Punjab and Haryana are estimated at 69 per cent and 67 per cent, respectively. However, Delhi with a GDP spend of 1.17% on an aggregate on education has the highest literacy rate in North India at 81.6 per cent.

On health, Delhi spends Rs 1,800 crore for upgrading healthcare facilities against Rs 3,981 crore spent in Haryana, Rs 7,711 crore spent in Madhya Pradesh, Rs 4,593 crore in Punjab and Rs 4,855 crore in Rajasthan.