Government Expenditure on Drinking Water and Sanitation in Uttar Pradesh, India: An Empirical Analysis of Its Trend and Composition

Abstract

Government expenditure on water supply and sanitation (WSS) aims to improve both the quality of life and health conditions. Using budget analyses, this article highlights the trend and composition of WSS expenditure in Uttar Pradesh covering the period 1990–1991 to 2018–2019. The article also presents political regime wise trend of WSS expenditure and finds that political regime affects WSS expenditure. Regression analysis reveals that net state domestic product is negatively related to WSS expenditure. This is not a good sign for the state where unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygienic condition is the fourth leading risk responsible for disease burden, and the current status of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) condition is quite low. The overall budget for WSS in Uttar Pradesh is grossly inadequate, irresponsive and out of sync with the development reality. There is an acute need of government intervention with higher budgetary allocations for the overall development of water and sanitation facilities in Uttar Pradesh.