RAS question
The FRBM Act was enacted in:
Correct answer: (A) 2003.
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act was enacted in 2003.
Explanation
India Code identifies the law as the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, and section 1 repeats that short title. This is why 2003 is the year to mark: the question asks for the year of enactment, not the year of commencement or a later review. The Act is framed around the Central Government's fiscal responsibility and budget management, including reducing the fiscal deficit and eliminating the revenue deficit. The later N.K. Singh Committee review in 2017 belongs to the evolution of FRBM targets, including the 3% of GDP fiscal-deficit path, but it does not change the enactment year.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) 2005 is too late because the official Act itself is titled the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003.
- (C) 2010 cannot be the enactment year because the Act had already been enacted in 2003 and was later reviewed as part of FRBM target discussions.
- (D) 2000 is too early because the official short title in the Act is the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003.
Concept
This tests fiscal policy institutions under Indian Economy, especially legal frameworks used to discipline deficits. It recurs in RAS because FRBM links budget management, deficit targets and committee-based fiscal reforms in one compact topic.