A summary of introductory readings

CBGA = Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability
Role:
Assess government policy and performance
Facilitate public discourse, participation
Advocate for marginalized population(defined by CBGA as: dalits, advasis, women and children)

Work:
Analysis budget within 48 hours of its publication
Research - use of socioeconomic indicators
agriculture
rural government
poverty
health
education
marginalized population
Publish newsletter 3 times every year
Publish Budget education material: Let's talk about budget, primer on budget analysis, primer on civil society budget work.

Work with IBP -International Budget Project
(process of Open Budget Initiative)
IBP issues the Open Budget Question are which is designed to evaluate the openness and availability of budget information.
The Open Budget Questionnaire is distributed to 59 organizations( including the CBGA) in 59 countries.
Each country completes the Questionnaire and uses it to evaluate its degree of openness.
The degree of openness is based on the availability of 7 key documents:
executive budget proposal
citizens budget
pre budget statement
in year reports
mid year review
year end review
auditors report
The IBP then examines this report and makes adjustments, asks more questions and for clarifications.
A study of all 59 countries is then published.
CBGA then makes another report of India's budget openness as compared to other countries in the document "How open is our budget"
This report along with the study Response to the Union Budget( published yearly within 48 hrs of budget issue) and other specialized(education, women, etc.) research is intended for public use.

Use of Information:
The information that the CBGA gathers and distributes are intended for the "lay population", it is used by groups such as journalists, civil society organizations, researchers, policy makers, and economic development specialists.

Notes:
What is the intended population for information?
Issues of openness should include two factors - the content which the government makes available, as well as the accessibility of such information for the public. The most efficient way to distribute such information is by internet, but there is a problem of accessibility to the internet.
There is also an accessibility issue for the marginalized populations in terms of language used in publications. Are these intended to be read by the public? Are they in accessible wording?
What is the state of the right to information law in India?