Lok Sabha passes Appropriation Bill

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Appropriation Bill 2020-21 by voice vote, authorising the government to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its budgetary expenses for the next fiscal.

The bill authorises the government to draw over Rs 110 lakh crore from the Consolidated Fund of India for its working as well as the implementation of its programs and schemes, thus completing the second stage of the budget exercise.

The first stage of the Budget Exercise is its presentation by the Finance Minister in the Lok Sabha, which is followed by a debate. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on February 1.

In the third stage, the Finance Bill that has details about the tax proposals will be discussed and approved.

The House passed the Appropriation Bill, envisaging spending of Rs 110.4 lakh crore during the financial year 2020-21 after Speaker Om Birla applied 'guillotine' on demands of grants for various ministries.

With Parliament having very limited time for scrutinising the expenditure demands of all the ministries, it takes up discussion on spending or demands for grants for a few ministries during a pre-decided period of time. Once this is over, a guillotine is applied.

Once the speaker applies the guillotine, all the outstanding demands for grants, whether discussed or not, are put to vote at once and passed. After this, Appropriation Bill was taken into consideration and passed.