HYDERABAD: Budget preparations have become a farce today, with finance ministers focusing on increasing the income and expenditure figures with each passing year, just to boast about government’s performance rather than reflecting the actual financial picture of the state, pointed out Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah.
He was speaking after releasing ‘Andhra Pradesh Budgets in Retrospect’ here on Thursday. It was compiled and edited by veteran journalist V Hanumantha Rao. Former finance secretary BPR Vitthal, for whom the book was dedicated, received the first copy from Rosaiah on the occasion.
“The growth in the budgets today is more due to swollen figures rather than actual progress. While AP budget used to be of `40,000 crore in 1970s, now it has crossed one lakh crore mark with states competing with each other in increasing the budget estimates. Budget estimates should be realistic and practical,” Rosaiah said.
Till 1980s most of the AP budgets were surplus budgets. But after 80s budgets ran into deficit due to government policies. Deficit has become so huge that governments started borrowing and got engulfed in a cycle of debts. To come out of this vicious cycle more and more taxes were levied on people. As people pay taxes on every good and service they use in daily life, they should be aware of the budgets of state, explained V Hanumantha Rao, who had put in enormous efforts at the age of 90 years, to compile all the information relating to budgets of the state from 1956 to till date.
The 400-page book contains comprehensive data of all the budgets of Andhra Pradesh from 1956 to 2014 along with expert articles and statistical tables. The first budgets of AP and Telangana after bifurcation are also included. The book will serve as valuable source for students, research scholars, officials, politicians, journalists. Veteran Journalists Association published the book.
Awards for journalists: Data News Features Foundation Awards were presented on the occasion. Rosaiah presented best rural journalist award to G Srinivas and best woman journalist award to D Aruna.