Amid din, Lok Sabha passes Budget Demands for Grants without discussion
Appropriation Bill also passed; govt likely to push Finance Bill today
3 min read
Scenes from the Lok Sabha on Thursday. (Photo: PTI)The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Demands for Grants for Budget 2023-24 and the Appropriation Bill by a voice vote without any discussion.
The business of the House was conducted amid a din, with Opposition members shouting slogans of “Modi-Adani Bhai Bhai” and demanding a JPC on the Adani issue.
The afternoon session of the Lok Sabha was adjourned within five minutes with the announcement that the Demands for Grants would be taken up for passage at 6 pm.
As the House resumed proceedings at 6 pm, Speaker Om Birla first took up various cut motions moved by members to the Demands for Grants and put them to vote together. They were all disallowed by a voice vote. “In relation to Demands for Grants, several cut motions have been received. Due to lack of time, I consider all the proposals as presented,” Birla said before putting them to vote.
The Speaker then read out the department-wise submissions for outstanding Demands for Grants in respect of Budget 2023-24 and put them to vote one by one.
Opposition members, meanwhile, stormed the Well of the House shouting slogans on the Adani issue — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and several key ministers of the Modi Cabinet were present in the House at the time.
The Demands for Grants were passed through a voice vote without any discussion.
While not all submissions for Demand for Grants are discussed, those related to key ministries such as Railways and Agriculture are taken up for discussion. After these are voted for, since there is no time to take up demands for grants for each and every department, the Speaker applies guillotine on all such outstanding demands for grants, and they are put up for voting, whether discussed or not.
As per norms, the Union Budget needs to be passed in both Houses of Parliament before the end of the financial year — that is, before March 31.
After passage of Demands for Grants, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Appropriation Bill, 2023, seeking approval for withdrawing funds from the Consolidated Fund of India, for consideration and passing. This, too, was passed with a voice vote. The House was then adjourned until 11 am Friday.
The government is likely to push passage of the Finance Bill on Friday even amid a din. Once the Finance Bill is passed, the Budget exercise in Lok Sabha will get over and things will move to Rajya Sabha.
Notably, the Demands for Grants for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was passed by Lok Sabha two days ago without any discussion.
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