Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget 2020: What it means for the social sector

Expectations remain high but fiscal constraints could lead to the emergence of implementation challenges in many of the schemes during the year

Social sector

The finance minister has attempted to maintain a delicate balance between remaining investment-friendly and yet driving consumption, within the overall constraints of maintaining the fiscal deficit target.  This has led to unchanged or marginal increases in allocations to most schemes focusing on the social sector. The recurring mention of public private partnership (PPP) indicates a willingness on the part of the government to look at financial resources from the private sector to bridge the investment gap. Considering the fiscal constraints, we could expect implementation challenges in many of the schemes during the year, considering that the outputs and