The Appropriation Bill and the Demands for Grants for Budget 2023-24 were cleared by voice vote in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The House’s business was conducted amid a cacophony, with Opposition members yelling “Modi-Adani Bhai Bhai” and requesting a JPC on the Adani issue.
The Lok Sabha’s afternoon session was adjourned in five minutes, with the announcement that the Demands for Grants would be taken up for passage at 6 p.m.
Speaker Om Birla brought up different cut motions submitted by members to the Demands for Grants and put them to vote together when the House resumed operations at 6 p.m. A voice vote banned them all. “Many cut motions have been received in regard to Demands for Funds.” “Because of time constraints, I examine all of the ideas as provided,” Birla stated before putting them to a vote.
The Speaker then read the department-by-department applications for outstanding Demands for Grants for Budget 2023-24 and put them to the vote individually.
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers stormed the House Well, shouting slogans about the Adani project – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and numerous senior Modi Cabinet officials were present at the moment.
The Grant Demands were approved by voice vote with no discussion.
While not all Demand for Grants submissions is discussed, those pertaining to significant ministries such as Railways and Agriculture are. After these are voted on, the Speaker applies the guillotine to all pending demands for funds, whether debated or not, because there is no time to take up funding demands for each department.
According to the convention, the Union Budget must be passed by both Houses of Parliament before the end of the fiscal year, that is, before March 31.
Following the adoption of the Demands for Grants, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Appropriation Bill, 2023, for discussion and passage, asking approval for withdrawing cash from the Consolidated Fund of India. This, too, was approved by voice vote. The House was then adjourned till Friday at 11 a.m.
Despite the noise, the administration is poised to push the Finance Bill through on Friday. Once the Finance Bill is passed, the Budget process in Lok Sabha will be completed, and the matter will be transferred to Rajya Sabha.
Significantly, the Lok Sabha passed the Demands for Grants for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir without debate two days ago.
