Among the various axes of inequalities in India, regional disparity has gained importance in recent times. Not only is Assam less developed than other mainstream Indian states, but there are also wide disparities within the state. Assam has been active in terms of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by developing SDG-aligned Vision Documents, adopting customized State Indicator Frameworks, and creating SDG cells and dedicated institutional structures. However, the North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index Report and Dashboard 2021-22 reveals that there has been a considerable disparity in the status of SDGs across the districts in Assam. It is, thus, crucial to understand what drives such inter-district divergences – to know why some districts have better outcomes while others have poor SDG achievements. Does an increase in public expenditure directly impact improving SDG outcomes, especially at the district level? What role does good governance play in explaining such variation? The proposed study attempts to analyse the role of public expenditure and quality of governance in explaining the divergence of SDGs achievement across districts, which has important implications for policy prescriptions. This is crucial as the district is the implementing unit when it comes to social sector spending. Moreover, the fiscal space of Assam is weak due to stagnation in revenue. In such a situation, good governance and quality public spending would be critical in bridging the widening developmental gaps.

In view of the recent changes in Central transfers to states, Central support to states’ budgets, tax structures (introduction of GST) and discontinuation of Plans, the contents of Indian Public Finance Statistics (IPFS) need changes. There is a need to discontinue certain sections while others needs restructuring. The study would: 

• examine the chapters/sections/tables which can be discontinued; 

• examine where additional information needs to be included in the context of recent developments;  

• suggest additions or deletion in the existing table formats; and 

• prepare a format and fill in the data for two years.

 

This note presents a summary assessment of the emerging economic scenarios and fiscal performance of Madhya Pradesh in recent years and in particular after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The note covers a brief assessment of the state economy, fiscal performance in terms of revenues, expenditures and debt, the emerging fiscal space in a post-Covid situation and a way forward for fiscal consolidation.