DIRECT TAXES
| Pranab releases Budget Manual Wed, 29 Sep 2010 |
| The Hindu Pranab releases Budget Manual NEW DELHI: Lifting the veil of secrecy and mystery surrounding the annual ritual ahead of the Union Budget for next fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday put the entire process in the public domain to enable a better understanding of the financial exercise for the benefit of not only his Ministry officials but also all other interested stakeholders. Releasing the first of its kind Budget Manual of the Union Government here detailing various aspects of the whole exercise including its constitutional provisions, structure of government accounts and budget preparation, Mr. Mukherjee said: “Budget is shrouded in mystery. Even in the whole text of [the] Constitution, if you try to find out the word budget, you will not get it. Article 112 of the Constitution which deals with the Budget uses the phrase Annual Financial Statement”. In fact, the budget-making process is not only secretive but many of the functions and activities related to it are also not codified or placed in any single document and it is this lack of transparency in the process that the manual seeks to do away with. The Manual, Mr. Mukherjee said, is an attempt to bring together the entire budget related activities and procedures which were hitherto available in a dispersed manner in the form of executive instructions and guidelines. Prepared by the Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), the Manual, the Finance Minister said, is a comprehensive document explaining in detail the procedures and activities connected with budget preparation and will serve as a guidance document to officials involved in budget making in the Finance Ministry as well as in other ministries and departments. Alongside, it is also expected to act as a good reference document for interested readers and stakeholders. At the outset, the Manual brings out the constitutional provisions related to the budget, describes the contents of various documents and also deals with the organisational aspects, roles and responsibilities of Parliament, Parliamentary Committees and the responsibilities of various wings of the executive in the budget making process. Mr. Mukherjee pointed out that apart from explaining the Centre's accounting and classification systems, it has dealt with the working of the Consolidated Fund of India, the Contingency Fund of India and the Public Account of India. The Manual's core sections explain the entire chain of activities related to budget preparation, right from the issue of budget circular in September to the budget day in February, including the processes of estimation of receipts and expenditure, their firming-up and finalisation through the pre-budget meetings and their compilation. The comprehensive calendar of budget related activities, their timelines, details of the related duties and responsibilities of the officers and staff together with the security and ‘lock-in' procedures have also been brought out. In short, an attempt has been made to incorporate all the budget related issues in the Manual so as to make it a self-contained and one-stop guidance document. Present at the release function, among others, were Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena, Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla, Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra, Expenditure Secretary Sushma Nath, Financial Services Services R. Gopalan, Disinvestment Secretary Sumit Bose and Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu. In his opening remarks, the Finance Secretary noted that the Manual was being released at an appropriate time as the budget circular for 2011-12 has been issued and the detailed budgetary exercise is to start with the pre-budget meetings in about a month's time from October 29. |
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