The government is mulling the option of skipping detailed examination of this year?s Budget by standing committees of Parliament to clip three weeks off passage of the Finance Bill through both Houses. According to sources, the new Finance Bill would be in place by the end of July and there would be no need for another interim vote on account to provide for additional expenditure.
This would also allow the new tax and expenditure proposals for this fiscal to come into effect as early as possible. But finance ministry officials, while acknowledging that the option was being considered, said a decision to sidestep the standing committee stage has to be a political one.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is learnt to have assured his officials that the UPA would stick to its election promise of presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha within 45 days of government formation. On his first day in office on Monday, Mukherjee asked officials to prepare detailed briefs of issues they want to raise with him.
Meanwhile, NCP chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar announced he would meet Mukherjee soon to ask for lower interest rates on agricultural loans. ?Despite our efforts to augment credit, more than 40% of farmers are unable to access credit due to higher rates of interest,? Pawar said. This, despite credit to farmers soaring from Rs 86,000 crore a year to Rs 2.25 lakh crore during the UPA?s first innings.
Along with Mukherjee and Pawar, defence minister AK Antony and home minister P Chidambaram returned to their respective and familiar offices on Monday, while new foreign minister SM Krishna kicked off his tenure. However, the minister?s room at Rail Bhavan remained unoccupied; Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said she would take charge at the Eastern Railways headquarters in Kolkata on Tuesday. The PM is expected to rope in her six colleagues into the council of ministers during Tuesday?s Cabinet expansion.
Banerjee is, however, learnt to have picked an officer on special duty to assist her second stint steering Indian Railways: Gautam Sanyal, who is currently serving as joint secretary in the ministry of food processing industries.
Optimistic of fulfilling the Congress? election promise of providing a minimum 25 kg rice or wheat at Rs 3 per kg to families below the poverty line, Pawar said, ?Government has not taken a decision. (Price) is not important; what is important is stocks and we have stocks.?