Budget analysis as social audit

Tamilnadu is among the relatively more urbanised and industrialised States of India, with a relatively developed infrastructure. Factors such as a progressive reduction in birth rate, abundant skilled manpower, relatively better performance in education and health among the States of India etc. have contributed to the overall economic and social development of the State. However, the social development scene in Tamilnadu is riddled with many contradictions and negative factors. Development has been very uneven regionally within Tamilnadu. And, more important, the benefits of development have been very unevenly distributed. This, added to the already highly skewed distribution of landholding and assets, has assured that inequality levels have increased over the years. Poverty levels, both in urban and rural areas, have been for long, higher than the all-India averages and only recently have they reached national average levels. The rural-urban disparities too have increased.  

The impressive statistics put out by the Tamilnadu government to boast about its performance in the social sector are often misleading.  These impressive indicators mask the relative and absolute deprivation of a vast section of people, especially dalits, tribals, traditional fisherfolk, unorganised labour and vast sections of women and children. On top of it all, since 1991, Tamilnadu has been among the front-line states, set on course for the onslaught of unfettered globalisation and private enterprise. The liberalisation policy and the Structural Adjustment Programme (introduced in 1991) have already resulted in explicit cuts in Govt investment in key areas of social sector.  

Hence, the need for an ongoing process of monitoring Govt policies and priorities in the field of social development, from the point of view of the relatively weaker sections of the Tamilnadu population, becomes urgent and crucial