CHENNAI: From comptometers (manual calculators) to electronic calculators to hi-tech digital equipment, inputting for the state budget , a crucial document that helps a government plan its finances, has come a long and tedious way.The run-up to the big day involves a large team of 200 officers and staff of the finance department, at least three sittings with the finance standing committee, headed by the chief minister, working round-the-clock closer to the big day and finally, when the clearance comes from the chief minister, finance minister and finance secretary the day before the budget presentation, a ‘confidential group’ in the government press rolls out the hard copies to be distributed to members of the legislative assembly."Sometimes, it gets as late as 2am hours before budget presentation when we go to the residences of the chief minister and finance minister and hand over the copies fresh from the press," said a source in the finance department. The preparation begins in October of the previous year when the call is made for estimates from departments and the collation of data goes on for five months before the budget presentation, usually in March. It begins with collating reams of data, called ‘number statement’, including the salaries of lakhs of government employees, expenditure incurred by various departments and funding for new schemes.Confidentiality and secrecy were uppermost, especially after the taxation proposals were cleared two days before Budget day. But, with GST, the new tax regime, the ‘secret’ components are just the stamp duty and registration and Motor Vehicle Tax.In the 1990s and 2000s, much before the advent of computers in government departments, the preparation of the state budget was an arduous affair, primitive even. It was manual collation of statistics, which involved hard work and sweat, said a senior officer, who served as finance secretary in the 1990s."The last two days, after the tax proposals are cleared, the finance department staff work round-the-clock, spending day and night in the office," recalled retired IAS officer P V Rajaraman, who served under former DMK chief M Karunanidhi and for one interim budget in 1996 under former AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa. "Mr Karunanudhi, who was also the finance minister, was pretty hands-on. He would read every single line and take hours before clearing his budget speech," said Rajaraman.State finance department secretary (expenditure) M A Siddique is credited with bringing in radical changes in the process, including the digitization, in 2004. With hi-tech gadgets, budget preparation may be child’s play, but getting a grip on the numbers and reigning in the state’s finances remain an arduous task as ever.

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