Taking a cue from the budget making process of the Central government, the state finance department has initiated steps for consultation with representatives of different socio-economic groups, industry bodies, opinion makers, academicians, bureaucrats in the run up to the preparation of the state budget for 2012-13.
Launching the two-day consultative process here on Monday, state finance minister, Prafulla Chandra Ghadai said, the objective of the programme is to assimilate the views of different sections of the society which would help the planners to make the budget more broad-based, people oriented and transparent. Apart from Ghadai, the programme was attended by the state finance secretary JK Mohapatra and senior officials of the finance department.
Participating in the programme, the speakers articulated their views on various issues concerning augmentation of state revenue, creating job opportunities, eradication of poverty and development of several key sectors like agriculture, health, education and infrastructure.
The status paper circulated at the discussion portrayed the turnaround in the state’s fiscal health which has been buoyed by better realization of state’s own tax and non-tax revenue and higher devolution of funds from the Centre.
It may be noted, the state’s own revenue, the combination of tax and non-tax income, jumped by nearly 30 per cent during the April-November period this fiscal. Encouraged by this trend, the State has decided to peg its plan outlay at Rs 18,000 crore for 2012-13, representing 20 per cent growth over Rs 15,000 crore set for 2011-12. The total Plan size for the 12th Plan period (2012-17) is set to exceed Rs 1 lakh crore, more than three-fold jump compared to Rs 32,225 crore for the 11th Plan (2007-12). Ghadai said, the State Budget for 2012-13 is being compiled online, the first of its kind initiative in the country. Earlier, the state government had prepared the Supplementary Budget for 2011-12 online.
