Wealth is merely economic health.

"The finance minister's Budget speech mentioned handsome allocations -- a Rs 2.24 trillion health booster shot, implying a 137% increase in the outlay. This amounts to slightly more than 1.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," wrote Prof Amir Ullah Khan and Saleema Razvi. However, this government relies a lot on 'jumla', so this is no exception. Last year's stimulus plan announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with great fanfare also turned out to be jumla because it amounted to only 1% of GDP, and not 10% as promised. The Rs 2.24 trillion "outlay includes Rs 60,030 crore (Rs 600.30 billion) for drinking water and another Rs 36,022 crore (Rs 360.22 billion) as a new grant, proposed by the Finance Commission, for water and sanitation." "Further, removing the special one-time Rs 35,000 crore meant for covid-19 vaccination, we are left with Rs 92,794 crore (Rs 927.94 billion) -- a marginal hike over last year's sum." Although clean drinking water, sanitation and vaccine are all very important for health, millions of Indians are pushed into poverty by a severe illness every year because of out of pocket expenses and loss of earnings. "About 75 million above 60 in India suffer from some chronic disease, shows the first part (2017-18) of the world's largest study on the aged -- the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) -- released by the health ministry." And, since 78% of the elderly do not receive any pension, having to buy expensive medicines regularly causes financial stress. At least physical illness is mostly visible but mental illness is largely neglected. A Lancet study in 2017 showed that 197.3 million people had mental disorders in India, including 45.7 million with depressive disorders and 45.7 million with anxiety disorders. "India reported an average 381 deaths by suicide daily in 2019, totalling 1,39,123 fatalities over the year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data." "Despite growing incidence and prevalence of mental disorders....currently only 30 million Indians have access to mental health facility. Some studies indicate that only 10 percent of Indians with mental health problems receive evidence based treatments," wrote Mala Kapur Shankardass. A study suggests that 74% of Indians are suffering from stress and 88% are suffering from anxiety due to the coronavirus pandemic. There can be no health without good and balanced nutrition, especially in children. Shamefully, "India is home to 46.6 million stunted children, a third of world's total as per Global Nutrition Report 2018. About half of under-5 child mortality in India is attributable to undernutrition," wrote Abhishek Singh. The fifth National Family Health Survey (NHFS5) released by the ministry of health and family welfare showed that "The share of children who were stunted (low height for their age) increased in 13 states, while the share of children who had low weight for their height increased in 12 states. Experts have calculated that "In India, the benefits ranged for anywhere between $45 and $139 for each dollar spent towards reducing child stunting," wrote Udit Misra. About 85-90% of government expenditure goes to revenue expenditure, which does not create any assets, and about one fourth goes on paying interest on government debt. Poor health of people leads to poor health of the economy. Thus, India remains poor.