The civil society representatives and economic experts have suggested the Government to focus more on priority areas and inclusivity while preparing budget of the State for financial year 2017-18. During a pre-budget consultation programme here on Monday, experts opined that the Government needed to shed traditional approach of preparing budget and required to embrace local bodies, including Panchayats and Municipal Councils/Corporations with more financial freedom.
Ex-Home Secretary, Member of Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) and Chief Guest of the programme JB Tubid said on the occasion that inclusion and encouragement of productive plans in next budget were need of the hour. “What we have been witnessing since years is that every new financial year budget is just 20-25 per cent added allocation of funds in previous year plans. Government needs to put dedicated efforts to be success in bringing development down to the last man in the queue,” said Tubid.
The programme which was jointly organised by lEADS, Jharkhand State Budget Group and National Foundation for India also saw Ranchi University Economics Department HoD Dr Ramesh Sharan, lEADS Director AK Singh, Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) Deputy Mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargeeya, WASH Specialist of UNICEF (Jharkhand) Prem Chand, Birsa Agriculture University Director (Agri Extention) RP Singh Ratan, TRCSC Secretary (Natural Resource Management) Manas Das, ex-Member SCPCR Ranjana, State Advisor to Commissioner of Supreme Court (Food and Social Security Schemes) Balram, JHPIEGO (Health) Suranjan, JRPSS State Coordinator (School Education) Sanjay Kumar Singh and dozens of representative from civil society putting across their suggestions for next financial year budget for the State.
Tubid suggested civil society representatives and to all in general not to get into complex methods and technical details of budget preparation. “Instead, look around areas in which you work. There are scopes to do something for the betterment of the society in exactly what you have been doing but you might not have noticed ever,” said Tubid. However, ex-bureaucrat also said that there were grave challenges from governance side, as large share of the system responsible for bringing governments’ plans down to the ground was neither knew what it had to do with government plans, nor was comfortable with inviting suggestions.
Dr Sharan came up with four precise pointed suggestions in the next budget. “Whatever plans we announce to implement through budget is funded through either taxes collected, or through debt. In both the cases, government must work with accountability. Then, it needed to insure 100 per cent utilization of the allocated budget in every plan. Government also needs to allocate budget for river rejuvenation and environment protection to make maximum out of it. And lastly, there must be community monitoring provision of the budget allocated for them,” said Sharan.
AK Singh laid the foundation of consultation saying that the organisation had been suggesting Central government for Union budget since last five years. “We have started suggesting State government from year 2014 only and the good part is that the governments have reflected positive approach towards whatever we have suggested so far,” said Singh.
All the speakers and experts were united over decentralization of financial power to local bodies, which according to them was seriously lacking so far. They also opined that budget was a key to social development and it must not be made a tool for appeasement that left many of the budget plans ending abruptly.