The right figures

The Budget should have used up-to-date data on revenue

A crucial part of the evaluation of any Union Budget is not only a straightforward calculation of revenue and expenditure, and how the gap between the two will be financed, but also to determine how and where revenue estimates have changed between years, and which heads of expenditure are being given greater or lesser prominence over time. It is in the allocations and particularly their comparison over time that such insights are to be gleaned, not from the statements of priorities outlined in the Budget speech. A Budget is primarily a budgeting exercise. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the Union