DESCRIBING ‘HEALTH AND WELLBEING’ as the first of six pillars on which the Union budget proposals rest, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an outlay of Rs 2,23,846 crore for 2021-22. “A 137 per cent jump” on the face of it, it seemed the government had responded to the all-too-obvious gaps in the country’s public healthcare set-up, which had been thoroughly exposed in the pandemic year. But it soon came to light that Sitharaman had indulged in a bit of ‘magic math’. To the health ministry’s allocation of Rs 71,269 crore, she has tacked on the Rs 35,000 crore set aside for Covid-19 vaccination, apart from Finance Commission grants of Rs 36,022 crore and Rs 13,192 crore, respectively, for water and sanitation and health (see accompanying graphic: Health & Wellbeing Outlay).…