Orissa comes fourth in budget transparency

The state has got fourth rank in a budget transparency study conducted among ten major states by Center for Budget and Governance Accountability, a Delhi based independent organisation engaged in tracking public policies and budget.

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattishgarh emerged as top three states in the study, which looked at clarity and availability of budget information to public.

Orissa fared well and scored above 60 per cent in parameters such as timeliness of information, availability of budget documents and scope for legislative scrutiny.

The study praised the state government for being the only government among the selected states having Departmentally Related Standing Committees to look into the details of the budgetary provisions for various departments.

It also lauded the state government for providing information about public debt and central fund allocation in details.

"Except for Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, the budget documents in none of the other selected states provide detailed information on funds received by the state from the Union Government or external agencies, which are routed outside the state treasury and hence not reflected in the state budget," the study said.

But in areas like performance assessment and in allocation of funds to city and village authorities, the state managed to gain only 30 per cent.

"It (the Orissa government) does not prepare any separate document outlining allocation for rural local bodies and urban local bodies. It does not produce internal assessment reports on the budget during the course of the fiscal year," the survey concluded.