The Finance minister of Mizoram recently placed before the state’s assembly a surplus budget for the 2018-19 that caught the attention of almost the entire national media. It reported the surplus to the tune of INR 428.49 crore. It is indeed a notable achievement for a remote state that lies between Bangladesh to its west and Myanmar to the east. Like the rest of the north-eastern states, Mizoram also is mainly dependent on Central funds due to lack of industrialisation. It also generates low revenue like any other state that is more of a consumer than a producer. There can also be many other accounting details, adjustments and intricacies but in the case of Mizoram, it indicates that the state has been quite successful in budget consolidation over the years.
The surplus budget of Mizoram shall have far-reaching effect in the rest of the north-eastern states. It may not have any direct bearing on the finances of other states but has surely intrigued the mind of the public of the rest of the states.
Nagaland has a new government instated and its budget session due in a few days. The state is surely the hardest-hit by the news about Mizoram’s budget. The common man on the street has very limited knowledge about budgeting. The lawmakers come next—the majority that cannot understand even the layman’s approach of the budget.
It is sad but true that lawmakers are more concerned about recovering their election expenditures and fluffing commitments they made during elections. Therefore, hardly any notable debate happens in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.
Nonetheless, all and sundry want a surplus budget in the state without understanding exactly what and where it is going wrong. On the other hand the demands for state-funded projects from the public continues, which the govt. always has had to relent because such movements turn communal and violent.
There are surely some major adjustments in the budget for Nagaland that the public are not aware of, but are also part of the problem. On face value it is a wonder that the state was able to pay its 10% state share in all the centrally sponsored schemes when the state was hardly able to manage itself. A rethinking and total overhaul has become a necessity for the state. The people of the state also need to open up about how to improve revenue in the state and not be an impediment to the various projects on modernisation and industrialisation. The state’s financial position is undoubtedly in a conundrum but a government in the state backed by the ruling government at the Centre surely should have a trick or two up its sleeve.
