Budget Track August 2022

Dear Friends of CBGA,

I am very glad to introduce the latest edition of the “Budget Track”, which is the first issue after I took over as the Executive Director of CBGA. I am enjoying my journey with my highly knowledgeable and dedicated team of colleagues here and wish all our readers a merriest festival season and happy new year of 2024, on behalf of all of them.

Till the end of the current calendar year, we have been into a series of actions, such as engaging with the farmer community and to educate them on budget basics, engaging with academicians developing deeper understanding on climate financing, engaging with UN and civil society organisations to unpack child budgeting and gender budgeting, engaging with select state governments and supporting them, engaging with international and national networks to further our work on care economy, and so on.

Most importantly, our Open Budgets India portal is on air, which is India’s first of its kind open data repository on budgets and related issues. This portal will be able to provide you with segregated analysis of budget allocation and spending data at different levels of governance. We will be expanding the coverage of themes and geographies under this portal, going forward.

This issue is coming out when the union budget of India is being prepared, and the states are also working on their next annual budgets. We will be, as usual, coming up with the analysis of the union budget. We may provide analysis of the state budgets as well, from gender, equity, social policies, and inclusion lenses. Please keep an eye on our website for these…

Thanks and regards

Raman VR

Executive Director, CBGA

INTERFACE

Our podcasts, videos and events

Dialogues on Global Financial Transparency

In the seventh episode of the online interview series, we spoke to Alex Cobham on international tax cooperation and the role of the United Nations as well as the OECD. He also delved into the historic resolution commencing work on a UN tax convention, passed at the UNGA, and the way ahead.

► Exploring Role of an Inclusive Carbon Tax Policy in Climate Mitigation Efforts

of India

CBGA organised a discussion highlighting the multi-faceted nature of carbon tax, encompassing political, economic, and social aspects. The participants emphasised on the significance of adopting a comprehensive perspective, beyond focusing solely on fossil fuels.

► Instituting a Carbon Pricing Policy for India: Way Forward

CBGA organised a discussion highlighting the critical role of carbon pricing in India's climate policy. The panelists emphasised that carbon pricing could effectively create a pathway for a low-carbon economy, and highlighted the importance of designating an inclusive carbon pricing scheme.

► Pre-Budget Consultation on Disability-Inclusive Budget

CBGA in collaboration with National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) organised an online pre-budget consultation in November 2023, which aimed to understand the challenges faced by people with disabilities across different walks of life. The discussion emphasised on the need for the government to prepare its budget from a disability lens.

► Workshop on ‘Unlocking Public Funds for Sustainable and Inclusive Future’ during CivicSabha

CBGA in collaboration with CivicDataLab (CDL) organised a workshop on ‘Unlocking Public Funds for Sustainable and Inclusive Future’, in November 2023. The workshop was attended by diverse stakeholders and it focussed on developing strategies to guide government agencies towards enhancing data for green and inclusive budgeting practices in India.

Videos on the Data Portal

Open Budgets India (OBI) - An Open Data Portal on Budgets in India

This video explains various features and dashboards on the OBI portal, covering ways to navigate the portal and explore data and analytics on public finance. The portal contains over 20,000 datasets on government budgets at the Central, State, and local levels, with an intent to make India’s budgets open, usable, and easy to comprehend.

Schemes Dashboard | Open Budgets India

This video provides information about the Schemes Dashboard on the OBI portal. The Dashboard provides searchable databases for some of the major schemes of the Union Government as well as select schemes of some State Governments.

INTERACTIVE VISUALISATIONS

Receipts Indicators (Updated for FY 2023-24)

View All

Explore to gain an overview of the fiscal status of the States in terms of select receipt indicators. With the appointment of the 16th Finance Commission (FC) soon, the fiscal performance of states during the 15th FC period (2020-21 and 2023-24) can be reviewed.

IN-FOCUS

Policy briefs, papers and other outputs from our research

Enhancing Budget Accountability in India

Open Budgets India (OBI) portal facilitates free, easy, and timely access to relevant data on government budgets in India. The portal attempts to enhance fiscal transparency and strengthen the budget accountability ecosystem in India. Under this initiative, two publications have been developed:

1. Reimagining Budget Codes for Greater Public Engagement: Insights from Better Practices

This paper delves into the long and considerable history of budget codes, their evolution, relevance and usage in the current Indian context. It traces important milestones in the journey of Indian budget codes.

2. Unpacking Public Financial Management (PFM) Issues at the District and Sub-district Level in India

The paper briefly describes the structure of India’s public finance management (PFM) cycle, including some recent innovations with respect to PFM. It also looks into the challenges that remain following the budget cycle and presents a few recommendations.

Financing Child Care in India: A State Responsibility

The policy brief argues for financing childcare from the perspective of child rights and it establishes childcare as a prerequisite to a country's economic growth and development. It maps the current system of childcare financing in India as well as the trajectory of budgetary allocation.

COVID-19 and the need for Family-Based Alternative Care for Children in India

In India, institutional care is used as the predominant response for children in need of care and protection and those in conflict with the law. This article highlights the limitations of institutional care and why there is a need to shift focus to family-based alternative care services, especially in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

Opinions and Blogs

Our team members have written opinion pieces on a range of topics, across sectors. These included pieces on fiscal decentralisation, women’s labour force participation rate, climate action, agriculture, rural women, school education, employment, among many others. Read all the pieces here.

IN-PROGRESS

Snippets from some of our ongoing work on policies and fiscal governance

Learn more about Open Budgets India (OBI) portal

To further our attempts in enhancing fiscal transparency, strengthening budget accountability ecosystem, and facilitating public engagement in the fiscal governance discourse, we have developed an open budget data portal - Open Budgets India (OBI). It is a unique and largest open data repository in India, of government budgets at different levels.

The portal contains over 20,000 datasets on government budgets and provides comprehensive fiscal information through various dashboards and data visualisations, which can be downloaded and shared to facilitate research on fiscal policies in the country. The portal is being updated from time to time. Explore OBI!

►Budgets for Agriculture and Allied Sectors in India: A Ready Reckoner

In recent years, budgetary allocation towards agriculture and allied sector (AAS) has witnessed an increasing trend in the Union Budget, which is also shaping the spending pattern of state budgets for the sector. This study will examine the direction of budgetary expenditure on the sector by both, and unpack the priority of spending.

► Situation Assessment of Agriculture Sector across Select States

A set of seven factsheets will present the key concerns pertaining to the agriculture sector and farmers across seven States of India. The objective is to map and highlight the key challenges at the state and district-level, and bring forward the analysis in the budgetary framework.

►Government Provisioning of Higher Education: A Case of Union of India and Five States

CBGA with support from TISS-Hyderabad is carrying out a study on government provisioning of higher education in India focussing on the Union Government and five State Governments. The study will reflect upon the role of the Union Government in the growth and development of higher education.

► Cost Analysis of Institutional Care for Children and Family Based Care in India

This study aims to explore the complex links between investments, needs and outcomes, and generate evidence, based on which to build a strong case for making the transition from institutions to family-based alternative care.

Assessing the Feasibility of Instituting an Inclusive Carbon Tax Policy in India

This work intends to build a holistic understanding of the need for, and the trade-offs associated with instituting a Carbon Tax in India. It also aims to facilitate the design of a Carbon Tax suited to the Indian context by considering alternative scenarios of introducing such a tax while also trying to address the different challenges of doing so.

INFLUENCE

Efforts by our partner organisations in India and other countries that have left a lasting impression

Uniting For Change - Ensuring Access to Social Protection for Eliminating Child Labour

Samarthan in June 2023, organised a consultation in collaboration with UNICEF, ILO, Chhattisgarh Govt. (Labour Department), which aimed to foster cooperation among relevant government departments, non-governmental organisations, and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive plan for strengthening mechanisms to combat child labour effectively.

Uncovering Those Behind Forced Labour on Commercial Fishing Fleets

A new report from the Financial Transparency Coalition sheds light on the companies behind force labour violations aboard distant water fishing fleets, carrying out the largest ownership analysis of these incidents in commercial fleets to date.