Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said here on Monday that the 2017-2018 Union Budget would be an expiation for the sin of currency demonetisation.
Given that the projected growth rate for the current fiscal year has been reduced to 6.6% from 7.6%, the Union government would be forced to increase the fiscal deficit target for the next year. In this case, the State governments should be given the right to do the same, he said.
The Finance Minister also called for higher allocation of funds for payment of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, as well as for the public sector undertakings in the State.
Dr. Isaac was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of an international workshop on ‘Unpacking participatory democracy,’ at the Institute of Management in Government.
RTI Act
Dismissing the controversy regarding the disclosure of Cabinet decisions under the Right to Information Act, Dr. Isaac said not just the decisions, but also the minutes and notes of Cabinet meetings would be published suo moto on the State government’s website.
The Cabinet decisions are to be put up as Government Order within 48 hours of the meeting.
However, they cannot be released any earlier, for the reason that they have to be scrutinised by the Departments of Finance and Law before being finalised, and is therefore subject to change during this period, Dr. Isaac said.
“The notion that the State government is disregarding the RTI Act is baseless,” he said, adding that Kerala was the only State in India to have issued such an order.
