The staid Economic Survey produced by the finance ministry is all set to get a face-lift this year. The ministry is working on a new style and format for the annual survey brought out just ahead of the Union Budget presented every year.
The project has to, however, contend with the limited production capability of the government press that does not have all the wherewithal to compete with the private publishing houses. But with the Economic Survey being a classified document, the ministry has little choice on grounds of the secrecy attached to the document.
To add flavour this time, the ministry is also exploring the possibility of adding comments from reputed research institutions in the survey. So, this time it might include different shades of opinion on various subjects it covers.
Since the document is also an official statement on the state of the economy, the ministry is working on the way these independent opinions could be incorporated without diluting the government