States want employment centric, growth-oriented budget

State governments today sought a growth-oriented budget for the 2012-13 financial year even as union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee emphasised that the states and the centre should complement each other in managing the fiscal health of the economy.

Many state finance ministers attending the pre-budget meeting in New Delhi today were of the view that the union budget for 2012-13 should be growth centric and employment centric, as the country could not afford to have jobless growth.

Several state finance ministers pointed to the urgent need to focus on growth in rural areas and the provision of resources and facilities in education and health sectors. Some members also called for a reduction in the number of centrally sponsored schemes as recommended by the B K Chaturvedi Committee Report.

It was also suggested that the classification of expenditure into plan and non-plan needs to be re-looked into as suggested by the Rangarajan Committee Report regarding efficient management of public expenditure.

There was a general demand that services offered to the citizens, especially those like the various banking services such as sanctioning of loans to individuals are placed under Citizens' Charter so that the time limit is fixed for delivery of specific services.

The participants also suggested that the government should consider fiscal incentives to spur investment.

It was stated that emphasis should be laid on neo-natal care and supplementary nutrition for pregnant and lactating mothers.