4 percent fund needed in the central budget for poverty alleviation

 

Pune : To lift 28 crore people out of poverty in the country, it is necessary to provide 4 percent funds. Poverty alleviation in the country is possible through literacy, skill education and employment, for which a separate fund should be provided, the Centre for Holistic Human Development Research (CHHDR) has demanded through the seventh People’s Budget.

CHHDR has made scholarly demands regarding poverty, violence against women and malnutrition through the People’s Budget. This People’s Budget was released. On this occasion, CHHDR Chief Vishweshwar Raste, social activist Vishal Vimal, academics Dr. Sai Badade, Aditi Kanade, Jayshree Patil, Durgesh Kale were present. The demands in the People’s Budget will be followed up with the Union Finance Ministry, said Raste.

To eradicate poverty, people need to be provided with employment, literacy and skills education. If Rs 2 lakh crore is provided for this, about Rs 7 thousand will be spent on each of the 28 crore poor. 20 percent of the country’s people are poor and it is not impossible to provide only Rs 2 lakh crore in a budget of Rs 50 lakh crore. Under the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme, a family is guaranteed to be provided with 100 days of employment. However, that is not enough, but each person in that family needs to be provided with 100 days of employment and Rs 400 per day. More than 25 percent of the country’s people are illiterate and efforts need to be made to make them literate. These people should also be provided with employment-based skills education. This is not impossible, but political will is needed for this, the People’s Budget states. The atrocities on women have not stopped yet. To reduce them, there is a need to promote gender equality, promote sex education in our patriarchal culture and take timely action against sex offenders, the People’s Budget also says.

Need for 15 thousand crores to eliminate malnutrition
Even today, malnutrition in the country has not been brought under control. The government started the mid-day meal scheme in schools to reduce malnutrition rates. However, for the last ten years, only Rs 10,000 crore has been provided for this scheme. There is a need to increase this provision to Rs 15,000 crore. Through this, malnutrition can be curbed by providing healthy food to 11 crore school children, said Vishweshwar Raste.