On 20 December 2017, sixty development economists wrote to the Financial Minister, Arun Jaitley, to draw his attention to urgent priorities for the forthcoming budget — social security pensions and maternity entitlements — for the forthcoming budget. They remarked that the central government's contribution has been "extraordinarily stingy". We produce a reading list of EPW articles which provide data and research insights into the state of social sector spending in India.