Assessing the augmentation of Social expenditure with humandevelopment and Poverty Reduction goals in Indian states:Implications for the SDGs

Abstract

This article explores the implications of the findings for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(UN-SDGs) and aims to analyse the alignment of social expenditure with human development and poverty reduction goals in Indian states. Using the quantitative data, this paper has done some calculations and applied correlation to prove its point. The key objectives of this paper are firstly to analyze the relationship between different types of social expenditure and there outcomes in terms of the SDGs in Indian states, secondly to examine the relationship by using correlation between (HDI) Human Development Index and Social Expenditure over a decade, and thirdly To analyze the Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) and Gini index of Indian states, are linked to the attainment of SDGs & at last To develop recommendations for policy makers and practitioners on implementation of social expenditure in Indian states in order to maximize their impact on the SDGs. The key findings of this paper firstly show that among the various social sector expenditure categories, states place the highest priority on education, sports, the arts, and culture. These are then followed by Medicare, public health, Social Security, and welfare. Secondly with the help of correlation matrix it has been found that there is a distinct association between social sector expenditures and HDI, this shows that investments in fostering human capital, such as those in health and education, which comprise the HDI inclusive measure, lead to better growth. Over the years, state social spending has helped to improve SDG results, which justifies the necessity for increasing social sector spending. It has also been found that the % of social expenditure to total expenditure increases most in Madhya Pradesh and followed by Bihar, Assam and J&K. The % of social expenditure to total expenditure decreases most in Punjab, Chhattisgarh and followed by Maharashtra Tamil Nadu and Kerala. HDI increase most in Arunachal Pradesh followed by Manipur and Assam. HDI decrease in Kerala the most and followed by Delhi and Goa, although Jharkhand has the highest Gini coefficient followed by West Bengal, Meghalaya and Assam.