• Budgets

Budgets

Open and participatory budget making is essential for good governance. Analysing the process of budget making in India, this article says by international standards India fares poorly on this count. The participation of both the public and parliament has been inadequate. The author says that a clear-cut legal framework for establishing the practice of partipation and transparency is urgently required.

The article brings out the following main deficincies in India’s budget making process:

• it is more or less an exlcusive affair of the executive
• the budget making team is not accessible to civil society groups
• the government does not consult people’s organisations
• the government consults only the trade and industry representatives to ensure their interests
• though under the constitution the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) has pre-eminence in financial matters, in practice the role of parliament in budget making is diminishing

The author suggests the following measurs to address the problem

• pre-budget statement and other key documents should be presented before parliament and disussed
• roles of finance related committees of parliament should be revamped with structural reform measures
• the consultative committee of parliament attached to finance ministry should be given pre-budget consultative status
• NGOs need to build their capacities and know-how to engage with the broad gamut of policy and decision makers
• civil society groups should demand complex disclosures regarding the parameters in which the executive will form its budget proposals

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