Significant increase in budget allocation & expenditure of the Ministry of AYUSH in the last few years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 18, 2022
The debate around the Indian traditional systems of medicine AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as data indicates, ever since AYUSH was made a ministry, the budget allocation & actual expenditure of the Ministry have significantly increased.
The Ministry of AYUSH was formed on 09 November 2014, with a vision of revising knowledge of traditional Indian systems of medicine and propagation of AYUSH systems of healthcare. Prior to the creation of a separate Ministry, these systems were under the aegis of the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry announced initiatives to conduct research on COVID-19 through these traditional systems of medicine.
In this story, we look at the trends in budget allocation to the Ministry of AYUSH since its inception.
More than 3-fold increase in the Actual expenditure of the Ministry in 2020-21 compared to 2013-14
As mentioned previously, the new Ministry of AYUSH was formed in November 2014. The budget estimates for the Department of AYUSH during 2013-14 was Rs. 1.25 thousand crores while the actual expenditure was only Rs. 642 crores in that year.
During 2014-15, when the department was made as a separate Ministry, the similar trend of lesser actual expenditure compared to the budget estimates continued, with Rs.616 crores of actual expenditure compared to Rs. 1.27 thousand crores of Budget Estimates.
Since then, there has been an improvement in the actual expenditure compared to the initial budget estimates for the ministry.  There is a considerable increase in the actual expenditure of the ministry since 2015-16. It increased by nearly 75% in 2015-16 compared to the actual expenditure in 2014-15. However, except for 2017-18, the actual expenditure remained slightly lower than the initial budget estimates for the rest of the years.
During the pandemic, there was an increase in the initial budget estimates for the Ministry of AYUSH. In 2020-21, the initial budget estimates were Rs. 2.122 thousand crores, which was revised to Rs. 2.32 thousand crores. However, the actual expenditure for the year was Rs. 2.126 thousand crores, slightly more than the initial budget estimates.
In 2021-22, the initial budget estimates for the Ministry were Rs. 2.97 thousand crores, which was 40% higher than in 2020-21. However, the revised estimates were reduced to Rs. 2.66 thousand crores. In 2022-23, Rs. 3.05 thousand crores are allocated in the initial budget estimates.
Support to Autonomous bodies under AYUSH forms the major share of the Ministry’s expenditure
One of the main objectives of AYUSH is to provide support to research institutions, educational institutions, etc. This is reflected in the budget allocation as well as a major share is provided to various autonomous institutions relating to AYUSH.
Institutions relating to Ayurveda have a higher allocation among the various Autonomous bodies
Budget allocation is made for various autonomous institutions that are connected to the AYUSH Ministry and the AYUSH systems of medicine.
The introduction of new Central sector schemes have contributed towards increased budget allocation for 2022-23
As already highlighted, there is an increase in both the revised estimates for 2021-22 and budget estimates for 2022-23 for Central sector Schemes under the Ministry of AYUSH. This increase is due to the introduction of new schemes. Apart from the increase in support to various autonomous bodies under different systems of AYUSH, the government has also introduced new schemes. The major Central sector schemes that were introduced are:
Apart from these, Rs. 25 crores were allocated towards Pradhan Mantri VRIKSH AYUSH Yojana in 2020-21 but the estimates for 2021-22 & 2022-23 were only Rs. 1 crore each for this scheme.
Schemes related to Information, Education & Communication, as well as Promotion of International Cooperation have also received a higher allocation in recent years.
Based on the trends in allocation & expenditure for various initiatives & institutions Ministry of AYUSH, it is observed that there is a significant increase in the spending since a separate ministry is created for AYUSH. In addition to the increase in allocation, there is also a significant improvement in the utilization of the budget as is evident from the actual expenditure in the last few years.
While there are apprehensions from certain quarters on the government’s focus on these traditional systems of medicine, their utility & usefulness is widely accepted for a range of illnesses. The need is, however, to increase emphasis on research and organization of the traditional systems of medicine to encourage evidence-based outcomes for them to have global acceptance.
Featured Image: Expenditure of the Ministry of AYUSH