In order to understand why the Union Budget 2021-22 is being termed as ‘transparent’, it has to be read simultaneously with the 15th Finance Commission Main Report for 2021-26. But first, let us discuss 'fertilizer subsidy'. The budget documents for Union Budget 2021-22 show that the spending on ‘fertilizer subsidy’ was slashed from Rs. 1,33,947 crore in 2020-21 (revised estimate) to Rs. 79,530 crore in 2021-22 (budget estimate). However, the budgetary...
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Constructive critique is our role, says CAG -Rajeev Jayaswal and Neeraj Chauhan
-Hindustan Times CAG reports in the past have been questioned by critics, for instance its estimate that the 2007-2008 allocation of 2G spectrum had caused a notional loss to the exchequer of ₹1.76 lakh crore, and that the allotment of coal blocks had caused a similar loss of ₹1.86 lakh crore. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Girish Chandra Murmu, says the government auditor is adopting a policy of “constructive...
More »Federalism, now a partisan internal dialogue -Sukumar Muralidharan
-The Hindu India could be living through a reprise of the ‘Congress system’, but with significant differences in the BJP’s re-enactment At the first signs of stress, the grand vision of a nation unified in a singular system of taxation, was supplanted by a policy of every-state-for-itself. Just over three years ago, the introduction of a unified “goods and services tax” (GST) was heralded by a midnight session of Parliament, a theatrical...
More »Why Are Many CAG Audits For FY'19 Still Not in the Public Domain? -Himanshu Upadhyaya and Abhishek Punetha
-TheWire.in In the last few years, there have been considerable delays in the tabling of audit reports for states – a problem whose blame is to be shared by both the elected state government and the national auditor. The global pandemic has impacted democratic life and institutions, with assembly sessions getting shortened or delayed in many states in India. In the first nine months of the year, we have witnessed 47 audit reports...
More »Centre used GST compensation cess elsewhere, violated law: CAG
-PTI/ The Hindu The CAG findings run contrary to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s submissions in Parliament last week that states could not be compensated for revenue shortfall from the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) relying on an opinion from the Attorney General of India which stated that there was no such provision in the law. The CAG has found that the Union government in the very first two years of the GST...
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