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BARC Annual Report 2004-05
Major Accomplishments
Analysis of the Rajasthan Budgets The Centre’s regular day-to-day work
consists of analysis of the Rajasthan Budgets and assessing the impacts of the
expenditures on the socio-economic development of the poor and marginalized people.
The Centre has been analysing the
department-wise budgets. Emphasis is given on agriculture
(including animal husbandry), health, education, scheduled
caste and scheduled tribe, irrigation, water, social welfare
(handicapped, women and children), natural calamity relief,
drought relief, among others. The Centre has been successful in developing
huge database and analytical reports and their dissemination. |
Issue Based Meeting:
| According to the action plan: Four issue based meetings were to be held. |
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The first issue-based meeting was organized in the State Resource Centre, Jaipur on the subject called “Overall State Budget” on 23 July 2004. The meeting was attended by 15 participants from the different organisations of Rajasthan. The researchers of the Centre presented the results of the analysis of the State Budget 2004-05 including a comparative analysis among the general services, economic services and social services, policies of the government and the reflection and deviation of the same in the budget, a trend of the state budget from 1998, a comparison between the 2004-05 budget and the past figures, the achievements of the government so far, and the possibility of meeting the goal of the government during its tenure left. |
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The second issue-based meeting was held in the Centre’s premises in Jaipur on 4 December 2004 on the topic of “Agriculture Budget”. Eleven representatives from eight organisations attended the issue-based meeting. Since Rajasthan’s economy is mainly dependent on agriculture and a major section of population is attached to farming either as tiller or as labourer or as farm related non-farm activities, a fruitful discussion was held in the meeting regarding the budgetary contribution to agriculture and its impact. A steady increase in the salary component compared to the other heads raised criticism. The need to put more importance in the agricultural extension programmes and more budgetary allocation for agricultural sector as a whole were observed. |
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The third issue-based meeting was conducted by the Centre at Nokha, Bikaner District with the local organisational help of an NGO called Urmul Jyoti Sansthan on 7 February 2005 on the issue entitled “Animal Husbandry Budget”. In the meeting, 76 participants from 52 local organizations came to learn different matters relating to animal husbandry budget. They were informed of the problems and prospects of animal husbandry in the state and, also, they were communicated important information relating to some schemes. |
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The fourth issue-based meeting was organized at the State Resource Centre, Jaipur. The topic selected for the meeting was “Budget for Women”. It was held on 25 January 2005. |
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In total, 63 women from Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan, who came from 16 district units of Rajasthan, attended the meeting. The Centre presented in the meeting a clear picture of the budget for women. It is true that there is no particular head in the budget books called “budget for women”. So, the Centre staff had to make a collage by pulling up the women budget components from different heads of the budget books. And, finally the presentation drew attention of the participants since it was concluded with an extensive interaction. Additionally, to make the participants aware of the different schemes of the government for poor women, Ms. Shuchi Sharma, who was invited as a guest trainer, delivered elaborative as well as informative talks on the schemes, exclusively for poor women, of the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Rajasthan. |
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In all the four meetings mentioned above, the participants from the different non-governmental or people’s organizations have been encouraged to raise the voice at the proper forum in favour of the poor and marginalized section of the society with the budgetary tools and weapons that they earned from the meetings with the Centre. |
Regional Budget Orientation and Awareness Events
| According to the action plan: Three regional budget orientation events were to be held. |
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In the action-plan prepared for the last financial year, it was expected that three Regional Budget Orientation and Awareness Events would be held in the 2004-05 period. Accordingly, the Centre has been successful to organize the three events in the three different districts in the State. |
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The first regional budget orientation programme was organized in the district of Bikaner with the local organizational help of an NGO called Urmul Trust on 26-27 August 2004. In total, 17 representatives from the different organizations attended the awareness programme. The Centre staff introduced the technical words of budget books to the participants with the lucid definitions so that a layman could understand what it is. The Centre presented to the audience the results of the overall State Budget analysis and explained the reasons for the fluctuations of budgetary allocations under different heads. They were told about its economic and social implications with the main emphasis as to how the poor and marginalized people are either positively or negatively affected through the different routes of budget allocations. In this context, different department’s budgets like health, education, tribal sub-plan, drinking water, and other issues (including MP and MLA Local Area Development fund disbursement) have also been discussed. The Centre staff identified the issues and subjects upon which the voice should be raised by the people’s organizations and NGOs. The participants were also given training on how a huge budget volume, presented by the government every year in the Assembly, should be dealt with in order to search for information relating to allocated money or budgetary provisions under a particular head. Apparently, a budget book looks complicated, but through a simple exercise the Centre staff made the participants clear how to go through the budget book independently. This learning is necessary for the district level workers since the Centre staff would not always be available within their reach and they might have to work independently. In this awareness programme, budget analysis for Bikaner and its surrounding districts was given special importance. |
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The second regional budget orientation programme was conducted in the district of Jhunjhunu with the local organizational help of an NGO entitled Jhunjhunu Paryawaran Sudhar Samiti (JPSS) on 17-18 January 2005. The total number of participants was 64, including 30 school students of scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) community. The whole programme followed the same line as described above. In addition, we went through an exercise with the SC and ST students. These students stayed in government hostel in Jhunjhunu District. The warden told them that an amount of Rs. 525 per student per month was allotted by the government the students were entitled to get the facilities according to that allotment. But the government document showed us that the actual amount allotted per head per month was Rs. 675, not Rs. 525. Then the local NGOs decided to take up the issue with the warden and the higher authority so as to ensure a proper expenditure for the students. |
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The third regional budget orientation programme was held in the district of Kota with the local organizational assistance of an NGO named Hadoti Hast Shilp Sansthan (HHSS) on 18-19 February 2005. 32 representatives from 22 different organizations attended the two-day programme. It was of the same kind of orientation programme as described above. Of course, Kota and its surrounding districts got special importance in the discussions |
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The Centre’s Staff’s Representation as Resource Persons in Local Groups’ Action Oriented Issue Trainings
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The Centre’s staff were invited as resource persons by several organizations in the past financial year. The trainings/workshops that were represented by the Centre’s staff as resource persons are listed below: |
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Mr. Nagendra Singh went to Dungarpur for delivering his presentation on Tribal Budget Following the Pattern of Maharashtra in a seminar organized by Vagad Mazdoor Kisan Sangathan |
| 2. |
Mr. Nagendra Singh gave a presentation in Rajasthan Social Forum, Jaipur on food security |
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Mr. Nagendra Singh delivered a talk on water policy and drought management in a seminar organized by the Institute Budget and Governance Accountability. |
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Mr. Vijay Goyal delivered a presentation in a seminar organized by Akaal Sangarsh of Development Studies, Jaipur. |
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| 5. |
Mr. Vijay Goyal went as a resource person to a workshop organized by the Centre for Samiti, Jaipur |
| 6. |
Mr. Vijay Goyal presented analytical data on the budget of Social Welfare Department of the Government of Rajasthan. The programme was organized by Action Aid, Jaipur.
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Mr. Vijay Goyal presented data on Health Budget in a programme organized by Rajasthan Voluntary Health Association
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Dr. Subrata Dutta delivered a talk in a seminar entitled Global Week of Action organized by the Centre for Education and Communication. |
| 9. |
Dr. Subrata Dutta took part in a discussion in a national workshop on Macroeconomic Priorities and People’s Perspectives: Union Budget 2005-06 organized by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability. |
| 10. |
Dr. Subrata Dutta and Mr. Vijay Goyal took part in discussions on Employment Guarantee Act of India organized by the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur. |
| 11. |
All staff of the Centre delivered talks on the issue of Land Right of the Tribal People organized by Action Aid, Jaipur |
| 12. |
All staff of the Centre took part in a programme with budget data organized twice by Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan in Jaipur. |
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| MLA Orientation Programme |
According to the action plan: One MLA orientation programme was to be held. |
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The Centre has organized one workshop for the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of Rajasthan at Pant Krishi Bhawan, Jaipur on 11 March 2005. This date was selected because the State Budget was scheduled to be presented in the Assembly on 24 March 2005. So, before the Budget Session, the new and old MLAs got a chance to refresh their knowledge about budget through this programme. The objective of this programme was not to raise any political debate but to strengthen democracy so that the legislators could be aware of the budget estimates and expenditures for the sake of the development of the unprivileged sector. Of the 200 MLAs in the Assembly, 63 MLAs attended the workshop, including 8 Ministers, from 26 out of the 32 Districts of the state. The Honourable Speaker of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, Mrs. Sumitra Singh was the Chief Guest.
Dr. Ginny Shrivastava outlined that the Budget Analysis Rajasthan Centre is an NGO that analyses budget data from the viewpoint of the poor. Dr. Subrata Dutta, Mr. Praveen Sharma, Mr. Vijay Goyal and Mr. Nagendra Singh outlined their work of going through the budget books of the Government of Rajasthan, and monitoring the amounts that have been allotted for matters of the poor – health, education, tribal sub-plan, drinking water, and other issues. The MLAs also voiced their interest in learning about the terminology of the budget (please note that the Centre’s booklet on budget terminologies were distributed to the members), and expressed concerns about the Rajasthan Budget. Mr. C.P. Joshi, MLA from Nathadwara, Rajsamand District, expressed his concern relating to the Centre-State financial relation. Many MLAs felt that there was a problem of putting Budget Estimates high, and not being able to spend it all, as is usually shown by low Actual Expenditures. There is another budget exercise done by the government, that of making “Revised Budget Estimates”. But the MLAs do not get a chance to debate the “revised budget” at all, and these figures are set by bureaucrats, not elected representatives. Dr. Subrata Dutta pointed out that, in his opinion, the Revised Budget was not needed at all – just Budget Estimate and Actual Expenditures would give a transparent and correct figure. The Revised Budget exercise hides the transparency of democracy. Many MLAs expressed their views about reforms needed in the budget formulation and budget discussions which would lead to a more understandable and transparent process. MLAs from all parties suggested that a longer workshop be conducted by the Centre for first term MLAs only. This would help them understand the budget more and participate in the budget debate more actively.
In addition to the above-mentioned MLA orientation programme, the Centre has been helping the MLAs in other ways also. In particular, the Centre has been supplying them with various development- and policy-related questions during the Budget and other Assembly Sessions so that the MLAs can hold informative debate and discussions for the pro-poor development.
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| Orientation of the Staff of Budget Analysis Rajasthan Centre |
According to the action plan: Orientation of 5 staff persons was to be held.
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In September last year, two staff of the Centre, Mr. Nagendra Singh and Mr. Praveen Sharma, visited the office of Disha Patheya, Ahmedabad for improving their skills and getting a better understanding of budget analysis by following their methodology since Disha Patheya has been engaged in budget analysis for quite a long time. |
According to the action plan: Two press conferences were to be held |
| The Centre has duly organized two press conferences in the last year. |
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On 10 July 2004, the Centre organized a press conference in which a review of the State Budget 2004-05 was presented. Six media representatives (including electronic media) attended the press conference. The Centre’s review got coverage in the leading newspapers of the state. Electronic media also gave coverage. |
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On 22 March 2005, the Centre organized another press conference in the Pink City Press Club on the issue called ‘State Budget 2005-06: Possibilities and Expectations’. The Centre’s statements again got coverage in the leading newspapers and the electronic media of the State. |
| Budgets of Panchayati Raj Institutions: Training and Experiments with the Grassroot Level Government Bodies |
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According to the action plan: Experiment on budgets of 3-4 gram panchayats in 1-2 districts was to be held. And one training of elected representatives of the three-tier Panchayati Raj Institutions |
was to be held. |
For practical reasons, these two programmes have been merged together. |
These programmes have been duly organized by the Centre. The understanding about the Panchayati Raj level budget among the people concerned was not very clear. The elected bodies of the Panchayati Raj Institutions have been preparing their budgets for years but in most cases they have NOT been following any formal procedure. They have just been doing it in their own ways on the basis of their own knowledge and experience, which might not be regarded as a scientific procedure. So, there was a possibility of organizing a kind of training-cum-experiment programme for sharing and exchanging knowledge of budget making with the grassroot level government bodies so that the Centre could learn the different aspects of their budgeting as well the Centre could provide them with techniques on how to give a scientific shape of a need based and/or resource based budget. In this context, the Centre organized a two-day workshop on Panchayati Raj Budget at Nokha, Bikaner District, on 15-16 April 2005 with the local organizational help from Urmul Jyoti Sansthan. In the workshop, 45 members of eleven gram panchayats and four Panchayat Samitis attended. Along with the budget related exercises, the Centre staff and the consultants provided the newly elected members with ample information relating to the various rural development schemes. The elected representatives told the Centre staff about their need for information. However, since the elected representatives were new Panchayati Raj Institute representatives, they had only limited experience. The Centre feels it will be useful to hold a second workshop with Panchayati Raj elected representatives who had at least 5 years of experience. Then, based on experience, they could guide us better about what budget information elected representatives need to know. |
| Responding to Requests for Budget Information from Different Organisations |
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Numerous requests relating to various aspects of the State Budget were received by the Centre in the last year. The requests came from the cross-section of the society, i.e. from the legislators, NGO representatives, research organizations, activists, academicians, students and freelance social workers. The legislators like Dr. B.D. Kalla, Dr. C.P. Joshi, Dr. C.S. Baid, Dr. Nathu Singh Gurjar, Mr. Amra Ram, Mr. Prahlad Gunjal, Mr. Gulab Chand Kataria, Mr. Mahipal Maderna, Mr. Hari Mohan Sharma, Mr. Rao Rajendra Singh and Mr. Sayam Lodha are in regular contact with the Centre for the various budget related information, data and analytical results. Rajasthan State Women Commission has also taken and used the Centre’s analytical data for their UNISEF project. Not only from Rajasthan, the Centre has received requests from Delhi also. All the requests have been properly answered with care. The requests the Centre received were mainly relating to the overall budget analysis of the state, education budget, health budget, tribal budget, animal husbandry budget, natural calamity relief fund, Panchayati Raj budget, budget for women welfare, among others. A list of organisations and individuals who used the Centre in the previous year is attached to this Report in Appendix 1. |
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According to the action plan: Two micro studies were to be conducted. |
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One micro study has been completed so far.
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The objective of the micro study was to make an assessment of the impact of the government policies and budgeted expenditures which have been meant for the Poor. Last year, the Centre decided to study on an issue relating to the overall condition of the widows in the state and the impact of the widow pension scheme. The study was carried out in 22 blocks of eight districts. The number of widows in the sample was 200. Currently, the data analysis work is going on. The report will come out shortly as a publication. |
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| Publications |
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According to the action plan: Four issues of newsletter and three booklets were to be published.
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- Newsletter - |
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The Centre has been regularly publishing a newsletter called “Budget Samachar” in Hindi language for disseminating the results of the Centre’s analytical works among the masses. Till now, from May 2004 to April 2005, four issues have been published, as it was mentioned in the action plan. The first one was a joint issue consisting of two issues together (May-July and August-October 2004). Usually, each issue of the newsletter comprises of four pages. Since the first one was a joint issue, it comprised of eight pages. In total, 1000 copies of each issue are published and they are distributed to the different NGOs, voluntary organizations, activists, the legislators, government departments as well as directorates, bureaucrats, policy makers, research organizations, academicians, journalists, district level key persons, and freelance social workers |
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- Booklet - |
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The booklet is another kind of publication of the Centre. Through booklets, the Centre disseminates the analytical outcomes of its studies. Also, last year, most of the technical words of the budget books were compiled together and defined and described in a lucid way so that a layman could understand the critical terminologies of the budget, which were apparently very difficult to understand. This set of budget terminologies was published in a booklet form. 1000 copies were published for a wide range of distribution through the workshops/trainings/seminars organized by the Centre and other organizations. This was published in Hindi language so that the content can be easily understood by those we wish to target. |
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| Committee Meetings |
According to the action plan: Four advisory committee meetings were to be held.
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| Three Advisory Committee Meetings have been held in the year 2004-05. |
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The first one was held on 24 July 2004 |
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The second meeting was held on 20 November 2004; |
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All the advisory committee members were invited to the MLA orientation programme on 11 March 2005.
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| Lengthy discussions were held in the meetings. Many important suggestions and advices that appeared during the discussions helped the Centre run on the right direction. |
| APPENDIX 1 |
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Data/Information Supplied to Organizations, Legislators, Media and Individuals |
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| SL. No.
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Organisation/Individual |
Data/information supplied by BARC |
| 1. |
Action Aid, |
Jaipur Overall State Budget |
| 2. |
Institutes of Development Studies, Jaipur |
Budget for drinking water |
| 3. |
National Centre for Agricultural Economics & Policy Research |
Livestock related data |
| 4. |
Samantar Sansthan, Jaipur |
Budget for Mewat area development programme |
| 5. |
Save the Children, Jaipur |
Data related to natural calamity fund |
| 6. |
Mahila Mandal Barmer Agor |
Budget for disabled people |
| 7. |
Astha Sansthan |
Budget for Tribal Area Sub-Plan |
| 8. |
The Hunger Project |
Panchayati Raj and women welfare budget |
| 9. |
Sukshma Vikas Sansthan |
Education budget |
| 10. |
Action Aid, Jaipur |
District and block level Census data
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| 11. |
Centre for Dalit Human Rights, Jaipur |
Data on Sahariyas’ Rights |
| 12. |
Rajasthan State Women Commission |
Budget for women |
| 13. |
Sandhan, Jaipur |
Education budget |
| 14. |
Education Resource Unit |
Education budget
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| 15. |
Hemant Bhai Goyal, Journalist |
Budget for disabled people |
| 16. |
Centre for Women Development Studies |
Budget for women (including widows)
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| 17. |
Channel 7
(A TV channel of Dainik Jagran Patrika Group) |
State Budget
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| 18. |
Khejri Sarvodaya Health Centre, Jaipur |
Health Budget
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| 19. |
Unnati, Jodhpur |
Budget for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC & ST) community |
| 20.
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Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur |
Education budget |
| 21. |
Astha Sansthan, Udaipur |
Budget for widows
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| 22. |
Institutes of Development Studies, Jaipur |
Budget for children
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| 23. |
Social Policy Research Institute |
State Budget
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| 24. |
Sukham Vikas Sansthan, Jaipur |
Education budget
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| 25. |
Vishakha, Jaipur |
Women and education budget
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| 26. |
Institutes of Development Studies, Jaipur |
Budget for drought
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| 27. |
Centre for Child Right |
Budget for children and data on child population
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| 28. |
Disha Patheya, Ahmedabad |
Overall State Budget
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| 29. |
Nira Sansthan, Jaipur |
Health budget
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| 30. |
Rajasthan Voluntary Health Organisation |
Health budget
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| 31. |
Social Policy Research Institute |
Budget for water resource management
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| 32. |
Prayas, Chittorgarh |
Overall State Budget, health budget, education budget, and Dalit budget
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| 33. |
Hadoti Hast Shilp Sansthan, Kota |
Budget for widow pension
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| 34. |
Sambhav Sansthan |
NGO’s list of Rajasthan |
| 35. |
Prayatn, Dholpur |
Budget for special area development programme
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| 36. |
Jaipur Pahal Sansthan |
NGO-list of Rajasthan
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| 37. |
Vasundhara Seva Samiti, Barmer |
Budget for border area development programme
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| 38. |
Urmul Jyoti Sansthan, Nokha, Bikaner |
Overall State Budget, and budgets for public health, Panchayati Raj and rural development
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| 39. |
Urmul Trust, Bikaner |
Budgets for Panchayati Raj, rural development and border area development programme
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| 40. |
Vagar Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Dungarpur |
Budget for Tribal Area Sub-Plan
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| 41. |
E-TV, Jaipur |
Overview of the State Budget
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| 42. |
The Hindustan Times, Jaipur |
Overview of the State Budget
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| 43. |
Rajasthan Patrika |
Overview of the State Budget
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| 44. |
The Hindu |
Overview of the State Budget
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| 45. |
Dainik Bhaskar |
Overview of the State Budget
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| 46. |
The Indian Express |
Overview of the State Budget
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| 47. |
Vividha, Jaipur |
Budget for women
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| 48. |
People’s Union for Civil Liberty (PUCL), Jaipur |
Overall State Budget and budgets for women, Dalit, and handicapped people.
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| 49. |
Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur |
Agriculture budget
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| 50. |
MLAs from ruling (including some Ministers) and opposition parties |
Overall State Budget and Department-wise Budgets
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| 51. |
Different Research Scholars |
Overall State Budget
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| 52. |
Lok Sevak Sangh & Transparency International India |
Budget for MP Local Area Development (MPLAD)
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| 53. |
Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability |
Overall State Budget and Budget for MP Local Area Development (MPLAD)
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| 54. |
Protection for Public Properties, Jaipur |
Budgets on health, education, forests etc.
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