Government Finance in Indian States : Patterns, Trends and Social Economic Fallout

Perceptive scholars have repeatedly drawn policy makers' attention to the recent marked deterioration in some major deficit indicators of the state government finance of India. During recent years, the increasing trend of fiscal deficits and its relation with revenue deficit have been viewed as alarming. Such pattern is not particular of any State in India. However, the pattern of revenue expenditure and its reflection in real economy has not yet been studied. The present paper, therefore, tries to bridge this gap and seeks to suggest some policy measures both in short term and long term. An institutional social security mechanism is suggested for the gradual betterment of the society keeping in mind the inevitable demographic ageing which the country is bound to experience in near future