Modi Government Made Budget More Transparent, Says Nirmala Sitharaman
The government will continue to maximise the value of taxpayer money and ensure that it is put to the best possible use, the finance minister says.
The last decade has witnessed a substantial improvement in the sanctity and credibility of the Union Budget, leaving past constraints and archaic practices behind, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
Various historic decisions and reforms have been taken by the Union government to strengthen and bring transparency to the budgetary process and practices, Sitharaman posted on X.
"Our government, led by PM Sh.@narendramodi is committed to harnessing cutting-edge technology, enhancing transparency, and pursuing ongoing reforms to lay a strong foundation for a Viksit Bharat," she said. "We will continue to maximise the value and impact of hard-earned taxpayer money, ensuring it is put to the best possible use for the benefit of all," the minister said.
In a series of posts, Sitharaman shared her insights on the current government's work on advancement of budget cycle, merger of rail budget with general budget, plan and non-plan classification of budget and accounts removed.
She also wrote about the transparency in budget numbers, rationalisation of supplementary demand for grants, increase in the corpus of Contingency Fund of India, Digital Budget, Treasury Single Account and Single Nodal Agency.
"Our government has prioritised transparency in its budgeting practices and numbers. This starkly contrasts the @INCIndia-led UPA government’s repetitive practice of hiding the deficits through off-budget borrowings and issuance of ‘Oil Bonds’, which somewhat covertly shifted the fiscal burden to future generations," Sitharaman said.
The government increased the corpus of the Contingency Fund to Rs 30,000 crore from Rs 500 crore, with the approval of parliament in fiscal 2022, she tweeted.
