Wednesday, August 17 2005 14:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will for the first time unveil in Parliament, an "outcome budget" to gauge the effectiveness of government spending on various projects with the Planning Commission completing evaluation of the reports given by various ministries. "It will be presented, perhaps next week. The Parliament requires three days notice," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told PTI here today (August17, 2005).

Confirming the move, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "My understanding is it (outcome budget) will be presented in Parliament before the session ends. We have agreed on a draft document. "It will be quite useful. It is a joint work between us and them (finance ministry). We are relevant only because it is going to be limited to the Plan".

The outcome budget would speak of what the ministries have said they would be doing with the amount of money allocated to them, Ahluwalia added, "We are not guaranteeing anything, we are telling what the ministries have said they would do with the amount of money".

All ministries had sent details to Finance Ministry, which was referred to the plan panel for evaluation. The outcome budget would provide valuable inputs for putting in place a mechanism to measure the development outcome of various central projects. Announced in the Budget this year, it would be first time when such an outcome budget would be presented with a view to measuring the effectiveness of the money spent on various heads under different ministries. Although the Finance Ministry is not against higher outlays for important projects, sources said it might not be sufficient to attain the desired goal.

The outcome budget is expected to ensure efficient service delivery, transparency and accountability. Accordingly, the Finance Ministry can allocate resources based on progress of a project. The move would also make all departments and ministries more accountable. Government-run projects may also be completed in time resulting in reduction of cost and time over-runs.

While the Centre is pioneering the concept, states have also been urged to carry out similar exercise for rationalising their expenditures. Chidambaram had earlier stated that the outcome budget would seek to avoid leakage and delays in project completion. It would also improve infrastructure like power, roads, ports and airports to support faster growth of the economy and noted that public-private participation could help achieve this goal. The move assumes significance in the light of UPA's commitment towards infrastructure development, evident from the ambitious Rs 1,74,000 crore Bharat Nirman programme to be implemented in four years for achieving an inclusive equitable growth.