States also flout Budget numbers discipline

More attention needs to be focused on state Budgets

Every year, after the Union Budget is presented, a lot of debate and discussion takes place over its financial outlays and policy initiatives. This is understandable and also desirable. The Union Budget for 2020-21, presented last month, was no exception. However, the annual Budgets presented by different state governments rarely receive the kind of attention that the Union Budget routinely gets from commentators and economists alike.
 
This is a problem. For instance, the size of the Budgets presented by 31 state/Union Territory governments with Assemblies was estimated at over Rs 37 trillion in 2019-20. This is 37 per cent