Budget Projections
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 17, 2014 -

As the annual plan outlay of the State yet to be finalised, a tentative Budget Estimates for 2014-15 with a total estimated expenditure of Rs 9687.83 crore which includes Rs 4045.16 crore under plan, Rs 5189.68 crore under non-plan and the remaining balance of Rs 452.98 crore under Centrally sponsored schemes, Central Plan Schemes and NEC schemes has been tabled for discussion in the ongoing session of the State Legislative Assembly.

Moreover, out of the total Budget Estimates of Rs 9687.83 crore, an amount of Rs 704.78 crore has been marked charged expenditure and the remaining Rs 8983.04 crore as voted expenditure pertaining to the Governor’s Secretariat and other Commissions in the State.

So, like every year, the Budget Estimate for 2014-15 presented is no better than a jumble of words and figures with no arrow mark to indicate as to which direction the State would be moving in the coming days.

It is said that while planning for a budget, whether it is that of a State Government or a family, what works best is when it is based on real numbers for real projections and outcomes.

But for understanding where the actual projections of Government revenue and expenditure are and what are the outlined services to be delivered to the people in the Budget Estimates, one has to scratch his or her heads.

But this is what is being passed off as the Budget Estimates of the State all these years, of course, with some slight changes in paraphrasing the text here and there.

An interesting fact that Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, who is also in charge of Finance, always stressed at the time of introducing the State Budget is harping on limited resources available and the constraint under which his Government has to allocate fund across all sectors keeping in view of the needs and priorities.

But on some normal day or while speaking in some function, he would have harped on the limitless resources that the State has and the potentials for growth of State’s economy.

So, why this optimism on normal day has never been able to reflect on the text of the annual State Budget presented in the House, which always focuses more on expenditure but less on generating revenue?

Assuring such and such sectors have been identified as priorities for a particular fiscal year and announcing that so much amount have been earmarked or allocated in this and that sectors could never be called a growth oriented or people-friendly budget.

But this has been the norm rather than an exception when it comes to tabling the State budget in Manipur all these years.

Well, if there is any notable change in the State Budget for 2014-15, perhaps, it is the happy announcement made by the Chief Minister to inform the honourable Members in the House that the MLA’s Local Area Development Fund has been raised to Rs 1 crore for each MLA from Rs 75 lakh in the previous year, in the hope that this enhanced allocation will enable the honourable members to take up greater number of constituency specific development works.

What an optimistic projection!!