New Delhi, Jan 31 : Social sector witnessed a significant increase in government spending, the Economic Survey presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday noted. Nearly 22 crore beneficiaries have been verified under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme as on 4 January, 2023. Over 1.54 lakh health and wellness centres have also been operationalised across the country. The survey says that the Central and State Government's budgeted expenditure on the health sector touched 2.1 per cent of GDP in FY23 (BE) and 2.2 per cent in FY22 (RE) against 1.6 per cent in FY21. Social sector expenditure increases to Rs 21.3 lakh crore in FY23 (BE) from Rs 9.1 lakh crore in FY16. Survey highlights the findings of the 2022 report of the UNDP on Multidimensional Poverty Index which says that 41.5 crore people exited poverty in India between 2005-06 and 2019-20. The Aspirational Districts Programme has emerged as a template for good governance, especially in remote and difficult areas and the eShram portal developed for creating a National database of unorganised workers, which is verified with Aadhaar. As on December 31,2022, a total of over 28.5 crore unorganised workers have been registered on eShram portal. JAM (Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile) trinity, combined with the power of DBT, has brought the marginalised sections of society into the formal financial system, revolutionising the path of transparent and accountable governance by empowering the people. Aadhaar played a vital role in developing the Co-WIN platform and in the transparent administration of over 2 billion vaccine doses. Labour markets have recovered beyond pre-Covid levels, in both urban and rural areas, with unemployment rates falling from 5.8 per cent in 2018-19 to 4.2 per cent in 2020-21. The year FY22 saw improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) in schools and improvement in gender parity. GER in the primary-enrolment in class I to V as a percentage of the population in age 6 to 10 years - for girls as well as boys have improved in FY22. Due to several steps taken by the government on health, out-of-pocket expenditure as a percentage of total health expenditure declined from 64.2 per cent in FY14 to 48.2 per cent in FY19. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Under Five mortality rate (U5MR) and neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) have shown a steady decline. More than 220 crore COVID vaccine doses were administered as on January 6, 2023. /IANS