State prisons received INR 57 crore in last fiscal

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Dec. 29 (EMN): Nagaland was sanctioned INR 57.1 crore for prisons during 2020-21 with a the total expenditure was INR 57 crore, a decrease of -1.6% compared to 2019-20 where an amount of INR 58 crore was sanctioned, according to the NCRB.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) prison statistics for 2020 which was published on Dec. 28 revealed that in 2019-20, the actual expenditure was INR 58 crore. In 2018-19 an amount of INR 52.8 crore was sanctioned with an actual expenditure of INR 52.1 crore.

Out of the total INR 57crore budget for the state, the planned expenditure was INR 2.6 crore and non-planned expenditure was INR 54.5 crore.

Expenditure on specific planned activities under the Five-Year Plan is termed as planned expenditure whereas expenditure made for meeting day-to-day expenses and running establishments like payment of salaries, wages, rent, etc. come under the non-planned expenditure. Non-planned expenditure may also include activities for development of existing infrastructure and bringing about improvements in the prisons.

The details of expenses on inmates in Nagaland during the financial year 2020-2021 were — food at INR 2.94 crore; clothing at INR 0.07 crore; medical at INR 0.05 crore; vocational/educational at INR 0.03 crore; welfare activities at INR 0.05 crore; and others at INR 0.15 crore.

As per the report, no new jails were constructed in 2020 in the state; however one central jail and seven district jails were renovated/expanded during the year 2020.

As per the details of quarters available for prison officials as on Dec. 31 2020 in Nagaland, the total sanctioned staff strength was 583 and the actual staff strength was 580; number of quarters available (actual) was 106 while the percentage share of quarters to actual staff strength was at 18.3%.

In Nagaland, the number of vehicles available in jail as on Dec. 31 2020 was 31 inclusive of four ambulances; one motorcycle; five jeep; one car; four vans and 16 others.

As on Dec. 31, 2020 Nagaland reported three jails with video conferencing facilities out of the total 907 jails equipped with VC facility.

In the number of electronic equipment available in prisons in Nagaland, the state prison had one phone; one fax; 11 CCTV and 120 computers but zero walkie talkie.

NCRB stated that the total budget for the financial year 2020-21 for all prisons in the country was INR 6740.6 crore, a decrease by 2.9% in comparison to the year 2019-20 (INR 6,942.3 crore) at all-India level. The actual expenditure was INR 5814.4 crore, which is 86.3% of total annual budget for FY 2020-21.

A total of INR 2018.48 crore was spent on inmates during FY 2020-21, which is almost 34.7% of total annual expenditure of all prisons for FY 2020-21.

The share of expenses on inmates in total annual expenditure at national level was at 34.7%.

The report further indicated that some states were spending significantly less than the national average namely Nagaland (5.8%), Arunachal Pradesh (7.1%), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (8%), Puducherry (8.6%), Goa (9.7%), Himachal Pradesh (11.2%), Manipur (12.6%), Mizoram (13.8%), Karnataka (15.7%) and Punjab (15.8%).

Tripura reported maximum increase (63.1%) in budget provision during 2020-21 over 2019-20, followed by Sikkim (36.0%), Kerala (16.6%), Jharkhand and Telangana (15.8% each). However, the sanctioned budget in 17 states/UTs, namely, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Assam, Goa, Mizoram, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Puducherry had declined during the financial year 2020-21 over the previous financial year 2019-20.

Almost 49.8% (INR 1004.98 crore) of total expenses on inmates were spent on food followed by 4.5% (INR 91.53 crore) on medical matters, 1.3% (INR 25.32 crore) on welfare activities, 1.2% (INR 25.08 Crore) on clothing, and 0.6% (INR 12.34 crore) on Vocational/Educational trainings.

Among all the states/UTs, out of total expenditure, Haryana (100.0%, INR 316 crore) and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu (100.0%, INR 0.8 Crore) have spent the highest share of expenditure on inmates followed by Andhra Pradesh (93.6%, INR 159.3 crore) and Uttarakhand (70.8%, INR 22.0 crore) during the Financial Year 2020-21.