Clamour on for outcome budget in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHPAURAM: With budgets failing to achieve most of its stated objectives, there is an increasing clamour for the introduction of outcome budgeting in the state. An Outcome Budget, to be released before a budget, lays down the physical achievement against each and every allocation in the budget of the previous fiscal. Finance minister Dr Thomas Isaac had spoken about bringing out a second ‘white paper’, which could approximate an Outcome Budget, six months after the first one in June.

“However, with demonetisation striking the economy hard, it would be politically suicidal for the minister to bring out the document,” a top Finance Department official said. It is generally felt that budget presentations are increasingly becoming an end in itself, a political sales pitch intended to impress and nothing more. At least 50 percent of the projects announced in budgets are either not begun or left incomplete. “There could be number of reasons why certain programmes cannot be taken beyond the budget pages. But the public has a right to know why,” said Dr Harikrishnan Nair, a budget expert. This right can be satisfied by an outcome budget, an action taken report of sorts.

“The budget document, the speech that is read out and the allied statements, indicates the resources allocated to various programmes and schemes of the government but does not detail the manner in which the money earmarked will be used to achieve the targets,” Dr Harikrishnan said. The objective of the Outcome Budget is to provide performance indicators measured in each Government programme in quantitative terms.   The outcome budget will be prepared separately by each department in respect to all appropriations controlled by them.

“Once outcome budgets are made mandatory, finance ministers cannot announce schemes perfunctorily merely for the effect of it. They will have to show progress,” tax expert Jose Sebastian said.  The LDF government had attempted to introduce outcome budgeting during their last term but it had met with stiff resistance. “We even tried to rope in an outside agency to carry out the exercise but failed,” an LDF source said.