It's A Sham

People's participation in formulation of India's annual budget is virtually negligible.

- Kundan Pandey

A PRE-BUDGET meeting between civil society and the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, held at the Finance Ministry on December 6, 2017, lasted about one-and-a half hours. The 20-odd civil society members were given about three minutes each to put forth their views on what people expected from the budget. One of the participants, Kavita Srivastava of Right to Food Campaign, a countrywide network of activists working on food security-related issues, says the meeting was only a formality. “The officials just heard our points; they did not ask any questions and there was no discussion on the data presented,” she says.

The meeting was symptomatic of how insignificant a role people play in the preparation of the annual budget of India, the world’s largest democracy. In a survey released on January 31, 2018, by International Budget Partnership, a Washington-based non-profit that works with civil society groups on transparency and inclusiveness in the budget process, India scored 48 out of 100 in its Open Budget Index. Afghanistan and Nepal scored higher on the index.