White Paper: Poor planning, execution left social sector funds unspent in UPA years

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled a 'White Paper' in the Lok Sabha showcasing the achievements of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi government, while also giving an account of the 'economic mismanagement' of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

In a poor reflection on the Congress party, which has been fighting all Assembly elections on the promise of its commitment towards welfarism and its 'five guarantees' for the upliftment of the people, the Finance Minister's 'White Paper' highlighted the previous UPA regime's failure to effectively implement social sector schemes on the ground.

The 'White Paper' stated: "Poor policy planning and execution resulted in large unspent funds for many social sector schemes during the UPA years, which in turn crippled the effectiveness of the government's schemes.

"Across the 14 major social and rural sector ministries, a cumulative of Rs 94,060 crore of budgeted expenditure was left unspent over the period of UPA Government (2004-14), which amounted to 6.4 per cent of the cumulative budget estimate during that period.

"In contrast, under the NDA government (2014-2024), Rs 37,064 crore of the budgeted expenditure, which is less than one per cent of the cumulative budget estimate, was left unspent."