February is one of the most important months in India when the country waits anxiously for the election budget presentation by the finance minister. Every year, on February 1, the budget is tabled in the Parliament so that it can be implemented before the commencement of the new financial year from April 1. The Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will unveil the election budget for the year 2019-20 on 1st February 2019. As the people are really excited with regard to the budget speech, it is also interesting to know how the budget is prepared and passed in India.
A lot of hard work and dedication goes towards the preparation of the union budget. It is quite a challenging and lengthy task that consumes around 4 to 5 months. Drafting of the budget is a very calculative process as it involves lots of planning and research work. Let us have a brief look at the entire process of the budget preparation in India:
Who Makes the Budget?
First of all, it is extremely important to know the people behind the budget preparation. The budget is made by the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance along with other key ministries, which are as follows:
- Economic Affairs Secretary
- Financial Services Secretary
- Expenditure Secretary
- Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary
- Finance Secretary
- Minister of State of Finance
- Chief Economic Advisor
- Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman
- Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC)
The finance ministry issues the necessary guidelines with regards to the spending to the different ministries following which they have to come up with their demands or proposals, which they want in the election budget.
How Budget is Prepared? – The Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Issuance of the Notification
In the month of August or September every year, the process of preparing next year’s budget is kick started. The Budget Division of the department of economic affairs that operates under the Ministry of Finance, issues an annual budget circular or notification, generally in the last week of August or first fortnight of September every year to all the Union Ministers in India, States, Union Territories (UTs), Autonomous Bodies and Defense Departments to prepare a spending estimate for the next year.
Step 2: Review of the Demands
After the different departments and ministries send their demand in the form of the expenditures and receipts to the Budget Division, then a meeting is carried out between the Union Ministers and the Department of Expenditure of the Finance Ministry. In the meeting, an extensive consultation is carried out and the demands of the various departments are reviewed.
Step 3: Final Call Taken by the Finance Minister
In the final stage, after all the proposals of the different departments and ministries have been reviewed, the Finance Minister of India reviews the proposals and makes changes, if necessary. The finance minister also consults the Prime Minister before taking the final call. Furthermore, if there is any conflict between the various ministries with regard to the budget proposal with the finance minister, then it is resolved by the cabinet. All the figures are consolidated and computerized in this stage by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Finally, the finance minister takes the approval of the President of India to present the budget.
Why Budget is always presented in Lok Sabha and Not in Rajya Sabha?
This is question that may crop up in your mind. The budget is presented by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha because the budget has been always regarded as the Money Bill. This kind of the bill does not requires the members of the Rajya Sabha vote to get passed. However, they can only suggest some changes to the bill (if required).
When a lot of hard work is involved towards the preparation of the budget, then to prevent its leak, the members involved in the budget preparation are required to keep it a well-kept secret. You will be really surprised to know that the officials are not allowed to speak to their family members for around 10 days, till the time budget is finally printed. To ensure the security of the budget, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Intelligence Bureau guard the budget documents in the North Block.
No comments:
Post a Comment