How Responsive is the Union Budget to the MDGs?
With only five years left for the deadline for achieving MDGs, various stakeholders (including the government) have been trying to take stock of India's progress with respect to these goals. However, there is also a need to take stock of the priorities accorded to the MDGs in the country's public policies and governance. It has largely been recognised that the government budget is the most important indicator of policy and governance priorities in the country. Hence, it would be pertinent to look at Union Budgets from the lens of the MDGs. In this context, the present paper makes an assessment of the priorities accorded to the development programmes / schemes oriented towards the MDGs in the last three budgets of the Union Government. The paper also highlights some of the overall trends in the Union Budgets, which have a strong bearing on interventions oriented towards the various MDGs.
