As we approach the end of a year that witnessed many ups and downs, we share optimism about moving to the other side of the pandemic in a more equitable way. We got inspiration from the incredible work of several of our partner organisations during the most difficult phases since the onset of the pandemic, and we stand with them in solidarity. At CBGA, we will continue contributing to the discourse around public policy and budgets, keeping the most vulnerable at the centre of our efforts.

It is our pleasure to welcome you to read the second issue of our quarterly newsletter, 'Budget Track', and take a quick glance at the latest initiatives by CBGA! We hope you will enjoy reading it; we will be very glad to hear from you about the various developments and outputs we have flagged in this space.

Subrat Das
Executive Director, CBGA

INTERFACE

Our podcasts, videos and events

Dialogues on Global
Financial Transparency

In the second episode of the series, we spoke to Prof. Jayati Ghosh on the recently agreed Global Minimum Corporate Tax deal.

Digital Delivery of Secondary School Education in Delhi: How Well Does Gender Factor In?

The video presents the findings of a study undertaken by CBGA and Southern Voice,to examine issues pertaining to disruptions in secondary school education.

Global Minimum Corporate Tax: Beyond the Surface

Watch the webinar on the Global Minimum Corporate Tax deal with leading experts and tax justice advocates from the Global South.

Addressing Child Protection Concerns during COVID-19 and Beyond

Watch the webinar we organised in partnership with CRY, discussing the many dimensions and emerging concerns of child protection through the pandemic.

Taxing Digital Companies:
The Case of India

The video is based on a chapter on India's digital tax, contributed by CBGA to an online course on ‘Regulating Global Supply Chains to Empower Workers’ by the Global Labour University, Germany.

Interactive Visualisations

Health Sector Budgets of States

Compare the health budgets of States vis-a-vis their total budgets and population through these visualisations. Also, examine how total health spending by States and spending towards capital outlay in health has changed during the pandemic years.

Agriculture Sector Budgets of States

Assess the magnitudes of agriculture budgets across States and get a comparative account of public spending on the sector by different States. Also find out States’ budgetary responses towards the sector during the pandemic years.

IN-FOCUS

Policy briefs, papers and other outputs from our research

Budgetary Expenditure Towards Agriculture

These Factsheets unpack the nuances of States' budgetary spending on agriculture and allied sectors over the last six years. They also unfold the issues of fiscal credibility and sustainability of budgetary provisions towards the sector. Further they reflect upon the situational assessment of the sector's growth in the respective States.

Government Financing of Secondary Education for Girls

The four state specific case studies discuss some progressive policy initiatives by the State governments of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Delhi for promoting secondary education among girls.

The paper unpacks the planning and fund-flow processes under the Child Protection Services scheme in two districts of Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

This policy brief by CRY and CBGA flags the major challenges around the functioning of child protection systems from a policy and budgeting perspective, focusing on the vulnerabilities of children during the pandemic.

CBGA contributed a co-authored chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Taxation and Philanthropy, which examines the role of tax incentives for charitable donations to India’s non-profit sector, through a comparative study of twelve countries.

Opinions and Blogs

Read our opinion pieces here. Protiva Kundu highlighted the challenges in adoption of technology in education in the backdrop of a fast-growing ed-tech industry in India. Simonti Chakraborty analysed the role of the PM CARES fund in child protection measures during the pandemic. Another piece by Protiva discussed the emerging lessons for an equitable recovery as schools reopen after a prolonged closure.

IN-PROGRESS

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

Learn about our Data portal

Open Budgets India (OBI) is a comprehensive and user-friendly open data portal to facilitate access to relevant data on government budgets in India. The portal hosts an interactive discussion platform, the Budget Forum. It enables users to post comments and questions on issues pertaining to development schemes, budget transparency and accountability at different tiers of government and other fiscal policy issues. Register here to join the forum.

An important dashboard on the portal, the Schemes Dashboard provides searchable databases for some of the major schemes of the Union Government and covers state-wise information on schemes for various fiscal indicators.

To know more, please watch these explainer videos on the Schemes Dashboard and the Budget Forum.

Institutional Strengthening of Gender and Child Budgeting in Select States

In collaboration with UNICEF, research and technical support is being provided by CBGA to select State Government Departments in Assam and West Bengal on gender budgeting and child budgeting. As part of these efforts, we are focusing on in-depth research based technical support and capacity building for government officials.

Resources

and Mechanisms to Address Violence against Women

CBGA is collaborating with UN Women to scope out existing mechanisms and resources to address gender-based violence in four States. The exercise is aimed at providing actionable recommendations to strengthen these efforts.

Engaging Students on Tracking Budgets for

Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) Scheme

We are organising training workshops in collaboration with NCDHR, for dalit student volunteers. The sessions aim to build the skill sets of students in tracking and analysing budgets provided under the PMS scheme. Resources for facilitators to conduct these trainings in English, Hindi and Telugu have also been developed as part of this.

INFLUENCE

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

Taxing Excess Profit and Wealth

Countries are losing a total of $483 billion in tax a year to global tax abuse committed by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals. Read the latest edition of the State of Tax Justice Report by the Tax Justice Network, Public Services International, and Global Alliance for Tax Justice to learn more about how this operates.

Please feel free to contact us:

Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability
B-7 Extn/110A (Ground Floor) Harsukh Marg,
Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi - 110029
Phone: +91 11 49 200 400 / 401 / 402
Website: www.cbgaindia.org
Email id: info@cbgaindia.org

Explore the open data portal on budgets in India at: https://openbudgetsindia.org.

© Copyright 2021 CBGA. All rights reserved.

Subrat DasExecutive Director, CBGA