Tag: Public

Utilization of public funds

The money the government collects is income from direct taxes, indirect taxes, non-tax revenues, and external funding. This public fund is only spent according to the law.
The use of public funds to provide public services, grants and aid to businesses and the disadvantaged, to provide social benefits such as social benefits and pensions to eligible citizens fair and equitable, and purchasing goods and services legally or ethically, the government is forced to consolidate financial activities, take into account the specificity of expenditures, determine the relationship production between spending and benefits, revealing immediate or future budgetary impact, implementing effective and efficient spending at all levels, adhering to performance-based budgets, and defining” public spending code”.
Public funds are best used if expenditures are in accordance with the law, in accordance with generally accepted standards, considered worthy of the money spent on something, and uphold responsibility. Financial accountability and control values ​​the most efficient use of operational resources and inputs.

The accounts of Government are retained in three parts:-

  1. Consolidated Funds of India
  2. Contingency Funds of India
  3. Public Account

Consolidated Funds of India

Government of India has received all revenue in the form of taxes like income tax, central excise tax, customs and other revenues paid to government in government business i.e. is the non-tax revenue credited to the Consolidated Fund. was established under Section 266(1) of the Constitution of India. Likewise, all government-contracted loans through the issuance of public notices, treasury bills (domestic debt) and loans from foreign governments and international organizations (foreign debt) are credited to this fund. All government expenditures are derived from this fund and no amount may be withdrawn from the fund without the permission of Parliament.

Contingency Funds of India

The Contingency Fund of India records the transactions related to the Provident Fund established by the Government of India under Article 267 of the Constitution of India. The figure of this fund is Rs. 50 crores. Advances from the fund made to meet unforeseen expenses will be fully deducted from the fund as soon as the National Assembly authorizes additional expenditure. Thus, this fund acts more or less like an imprest account of the Government of India and is held by the Secretary of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs in the name of the President.

Public Account

In Public Accounts under Section 266(2) of the Constitution, transactions involving debts other than those included in the Consolidation Fund of India. Transactions under Accounts Payable, Deposits and Advances in this section are transactions for which the government is obligated to repay the amount received or to seek recovery of the amounts paid. Transactions related to “Money Transfer” and “Thrill” include all payment procedures. The initial debits or credits of these heads will eventually be offset by corresponding receipts or payments. Revenue from public accounts is not ordinary government revenue. Therefore, Congressional authorization for payments from public accounts is not required.

Factors constraining utilization of plan

Under- Utilization by States on the Plan can be attributed to institutional and procedural bottlenecks in the implementation of the Plan outlines and to deficiencies in the planning process at the district level. . These factors must be taken into account in order to strengthen States’ capacity to make more efficient use of the larger allocations to the social sectors. Decentralized planning is implemented in the periphery, due to lack of personnel to carry out planning activities, not enough attention has been paid to enhancing their capacity and participation role of the community in the planning process is small. The bottlenecks in the budget process in the programs, such as delays in capital turnover, the issuance of sanctions on expenditures, and decision-making in the states is centralized, not sufficient fiscal decentralization for district/county governments and uniform standards of centrally funded plans for all states. Furthermore, the absence of need-based budgeting in plans, which is often done without a proper unit cost analysis on the basis, means that allocations for some plans are decided upon. determined in a top-down and impractical manner. Systemic weakness, manifested in the lack of trained and regular staff in various key roles such as program manager, finance/accounting and frontline service delivery; this has contributed to weakening the capacity of the state government apparatus in implementing the mechanisms of the Plan. Regarding the systemic weaknesses in the state government system, it can be argued that unplanned state spending plays an important role in strengthening the overall capacity of the government apparatus. This affects the capacity of the state government apparatus in terms of the availability of qualified permanent staff and the adequacy of the government infrastructure to implement the Plan’s programmes. However, over the past decade, unplanned spending in the social sectors has been controlled by many states because of the current fiscal policy’s emphasis on reducing deficits by limiting public spending. As a result, the capacity of the government apparatus to implement the Plan’s programs/programs was controlled.

Planning In India In A Globalizing World

As history has shown, India’s approach to development always remains contextual. This is evident when the nationalist leaders opted for a Soviet type centralized planning as perhaps an effective means for development. The idea was widely acclaimed regardless of the ideological differences among those who presided over India’s destiny following decolonization. The Planning Commission which was constituted in 1950 was hailed as an instrument to bring about quick development in India. India’s trajectory of development however proved otherwise : instead of being instrumental in contributing to a uniform development in the country, the Planning Commission failed to accomplish the goal; it was felt that centralized planning did not appear to be effective in attaining the goal that the nationalist leadership sought to attain.

The impact of the Planning Commission on India’s development cannot be easily ignored since it had been in place for more than six decades following the withdrawal of colonisation in India in 1947 while the NITI Aayog is too new to have any sway on the trajectory of growth in the country.

What is striking is the fact that while the Planning Commission was considered to be a piece of ideological baggage borrowed from the former Soviet Union, the NITI Aayog represents an effort toward articulating India’s neoliberal endeavour for sustainable economic growth. Ideologically drawn, both the planned development of the erstwhile era and its opposite, as conceptualized by the NITI Aayog, remain important pillars of India’s growth trajectory since independence. Centralized planning may have become futile though it undoubtedly had its role in the state directed development era.

Planning And Economic Development

With the formation of the Planning Commission in 1950, India was ushered in the state-led development era in which the state became a critical economic actor. Despite its historical antecedents, the idea of the state directed planned economic development gained significant salience in independent India, especially with Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, at the helm of affairs. Given his staunch opposition to the Gandhian model of democratic decentralization, Nehru always preferred the state-driven economy as perhaps the only driving force for India’s rapid socioeconomic regeneration in the aftermath of colonial rule.

There are two fundamental questions that need to be addressed: first, has the idea of the state-driven economic development lost its relevance just because of its failure to accomplish the stated goals or due to its vacuous claim in contrast with the rising importance of a market-driven counter ideology providing an alternative to the erstwhile strategy of the state-directed economic development? There is a connected second question: whether the market – driven strategy shall be useful for peripheral societies, including India, where the proportion of the people living below the poverty line is staggeringly alarming.

The Objective Of Economic Development

The following were the original objectives of economic planning in India:

  • Economic Development: This is the main objective of planning in India. Economic Development of India is measured by the increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India and Per Capita Income
  • Increased Levels of Employment: An important aim of economic planning in India is to better utilise the available human resources of the country by increasing the employment levels.
  • Self Sufficiency: India aims to be self-sufficient in major commodities and also increase exports through economic planning. The Indian economy had reached the take-off stage of development during the third five-year plan in 1961-66.
  • Economic Stability: Economic planning in India also aims at stable market conditions in addition to the economic growth of India. This means keeping inflation low while also making sure that deflation in prices does not happen. If the wholesale price index rises very high or very low, structural defects in the economy are created and economic planning aims to avoid this.
  • Social Welfare and Provision of Efficient Social Services: The objectives of all the five year plans as well as plans suggested by the NITI Aayog aim to increase labour welfare, social welfare for all sections of the society. Development of social services in India, such as education, healthcare and emergency services have been part of planning in India.
  • Regional Development: Economic planning in India aims to reduce regional disparities in development. For example, some states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are relatively well developed economically while states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Nagaland are economically backward. Others like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have uneven development with world class economic centres in cities and a relatively less developed hinterland. Planning in India aims to study these disparities and suggest strategies to reduce them.
  • Comprehensive and Sustainable Development: Development of all economic sectors such as agriculture, industry, and services is one of the major objectives of economic planning.
  • Reduction in Economic Inequality: Measures to reduce inequality through progressive taxation, employment generation and reservation of jobs has been a central objective of Indian economic planning since independence.
  • Social Justice: This objective of planning is related to all the other objectives and has been a central focus of planning in India. It aims to reduce the population of people living below the poverty line and provide them access to employment and social services.
  • Increased Standard of Living: Increasing the standard of living by increasing the per capita income and equal distribution of income is one of the main aims of India’s economic planning.

REFERENCES : Public Administration By Bidyut Chakrabarty and Prakash Chan Kandpal

Public Policy

Public policy is a frequently used term in our daily lives. We often read in newspapers about a public health policy, education policy, environmental policy, agricultural policy, industrial policy, and so on. Public policies are primarily framed by the government to satisfy public needs and demands. They are the means by which ends of a collective community are served. Without a policy, government and administration are rudderless. Successful policies make for successful government and administration, and hence there is a saying that when a policy fails, the government fails.

Theoretical Dimensions : The Context

Public policy is a relatively new subfield in political science. Its development as an area of study emerged out of the recognition that traditional analyses of government decisions were incomplete descriptions of political activities. As the relationships between society and its various public institutions became more complex and more interdependent, the need developed for more institutions became more complex and more interdependent, the need developed for more comprehensive assessments of what governments do – how and why they pursue some policy alternatives over others.

The focus on the public policy process has developed with the emergence of modern society and industrialization. During the nineteenth century, representative governments began to evolve in some parts of the world. With increased political participation by larger portions of the public, government decisions assumed greater importance and legitimacy.

What Is A Public Policy?

The term “public policy” refers to a set of actions the government takes to address issues within society. For example, public policy addresses problems over the long-term, such as issues with healthcare or gun control, and as such, it can take years to develop. Public policy addresses issues that affect a wider swath of society, rather than those pertaining to smaller groups. To explore this concept, consider the following public policy definition.

For example, public policy might tackle the problem of student loans by creating a student loan forgiveness program that affects several students at once, rather than paying off the loan of one student. Something important to remember about public policy is that it does not just refer to the government’s actions, but also to the behaviours and actions that result from those actions.

Significance Of Public Policy

It is evident that the public policy is the significant factor in the democratic government and it
emphasizes on the public and its problems, in fact it is a discipline which is branded as
public. The concept of public policy assumes that there is an area of life which is totally
individual but said in public. Likewise, public policies have a significant purposes to work in
the society where the democracy is prevails.

The important role of the public policy is to make the society to lead a better life and to maintain the delivery of the goods and services are significant, it is regarded as the mechanism for developing economic-social system, a
procedure for determining the future and so on.

REFERENCES : Public Administration by Bidyut Chakrabarty and Prakash Chand Kandpal