A host of speakers at the regional consultation on ‘budget justice’ held here on Thursday felt the need for civil society to mount pressure on the Central and the State governments to make adequate budgetary allocations to the social sector which often takes a back seat as the entire financial architecture underwent drastic changes, particularly in the wake of disbanding of the Planning Commission and its Five-year Plans. The event was organised by the Vijayawada-based Centre for Rural Studies and Development (CRSD) in collaboration with the Centre for Budget, Governance and Accountability (CBGA), New Delhi.
Priyanka Samy, a programme consultant at CBGA, said successive Central governments have largely withdrawn from social sector spending and they apparently washed their hands off the task of devolution of funds to States, which became the exclusive domain of Finance Commissions after the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog.
Yawning gap
This paradigm shift in the structure of fiscal federalism should be thoroughly debated across the spectrum and both the Central and State governments should be made to realise the importance of considering budget-making as not just a statistical exercise but as a tool that alleviates living conditions.
The consequences of the distancing of the Central government from a welfarist approach would be devastating, Ms. Priyanka observed.
E. Venkatesu of the University of Hyderabad said there has been a yawning gap between the budget planning and its drafting and the actual implementation of welfare schemes and that the budget preparation had acquired a greater degree of secrecy over the last few years.
Unless the concerns of a cross-section of society were factored in, the outcomes would become poorer, he observed. A.P Budget Centre’s Satya Babu Bose and Jawed Alam Khan of CBGA were present.