Almost finishing the Budget process for the fiscal, the Lok Sabha on Thursday approved the Demand for Grants and the Appropriation Bill 2009-10, after having applied the guillotine on discussions. It is crucial that the two get Parliamentary approval for the government to withdraw over Rs 30 lakh crore from the Consolidation Fund of India to meet necessary expenditure during the eight remaining months of the fiscal.
The Lok Sabha will take up discussions on Friday on the Finance Bill 2009-10, which relates to changes in the tax rates and laws. The Budgetary process will then be over for the fiscal.
To ensure that the process is over before July 31, the Centre has decided to dispense with the procedure of scrutiny of expenditure of ministries by the respective Standing Committees of Parliament.
Demands for Grants of five ministries were discussed and approved by the Lok Sabha, including the ministries of power, agriculture, home, human resource development, and woman and child development. The House applied guillotine on the discussions on demands of other ministries and approved them by voice vote without debate. The Appropriation Bill once approved will allow the Centre to withdraw Rs 30,43,256 crore from the Consolidated Fund during the fiscal.