Ashish Ranjan
Thursday, the Lok Sabha approved the Budget Demands for Grants 2023-24 and the Appropriation Bill by voice vote, without debate.Opposition members yelled “Modi-Adani Bhai Bhai” and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Adani issue as they disrupted the House’s proceedings.
The afternoon session of the Lok Sabha was adjourned within five minutes after it was announced that the Demands for Grants would be considered for approval at 6:00 p.m.
At the start of the resumption of House proceedings at 6:00 p.m., Speaker Om Birla called up and voted on a number of member-introduced motions to trim the Demands for Grants. All of them were denied by voice vote. “With regard to Grant Requests, a number of reduction motions have been received. Before bringing them to a vote, Birla stated, “Due to a lack of time, I accept all the proposals as presented.”
The Speaker then read aloud the department-by-department requests for outstanding Demands for Grants pertaining to Budget 2023-24 and submitted each one to a vote individually.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and several key ministers of the Modi Cabinet were present in the House at the time opposition members stormed the Well of the House chanting slogans regarding the Adani issue.The Demands for Grants were approved without discussion by voice vote.
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While not all Demand for Grants submissions are discussed, those pertaining to critical ministries such as Railways and Agriculture are discussed. After these are voted on, since there is no time to discuss grant requests for every department, the Speaker applies the guillotine to all outstanding grant requests and puts them to a vote without discussion.
The Union Budget must be approved by both chambers of Parliament prior to the end of the fiscal year, or by March 31.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Appropriation Bill, 2023, seeking sanction to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India, for consideration and passage following the passage of Demands for Grants. Likewise, this was approved by voice vote. The House then adjourned until Friday at 11 a.m.
The government is likely to press Friday’s passage of the Finance Bill despite the noise. As soon as the Finance Bill is passed, the Budget process in the Lok Sabha will conclude and proceed to the Rajya Sabha.
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Notably, the Demands for Grants for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir were enacted without discussion by the Lok Sabha two days ago.
