Rajya Sabha returns two Appropriation Bills

Rajya Sabha returns two Appropriation Bills

Hummingbird News Desk

NEW DELHI, 21 MAR: Rajya Sabha on Monday returned a money bill moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, authorising the government for payment and appropriation of certain sums from the consolidated fund for the financial year 2021-22.

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The Upper House of Parliament also returned another Appropriation Bill for the expenditure done in the 2018-19 financial year.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today assured the Rajya Sabha that nowhere devolution of funds to States from the Centre was held up and she had personally supervised clearance of all States’ dues by February this year.

She was replying to a debate on two Appropriation Bills concerning additional expenditure made by the Government relating to financial years 2021-22 and 2018-19.

Sitharaman said the States were fully paid funds under transfer of funds to States, Finance Commission’s grants or for Centrally sponsored schemes by February so that the States could plan for the next financial year in time.

An amount of Rs 1.59 lakh crore was transferred to States every month, she said. Responding to members’ queries on cess monies, she clarified that the GST cess was under the control of the GST Council. She said all IGST dues were cleared.

As the Elders took the opportunity to raise a general discussion on the state of the economy and took up issues like unemployment, sluggish industrial growth or delays in Defence purchases, the Finance Minister gave data to show the Modi Government had done much better in the past seven years than the Congress Government in its 10-year rule.

She said the Congress Government had made nil Defence purchases during its 10-year rule, while the BJP Government’s record in the sector was overwhelming. There was no reduction in the Defence expenditure.

Sitharaman said today’s economic realities should be kept in view while talking about the reduction in the EPF rate of interest from 8.40 per cent to 8.10 per cent. Still, it was higher than any Government saving scheme or rates given by banks on fixed deposits.

An Appropriation Bill is a money bill that allows the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenses during the course of a financial year.

As per Article 114 of the Constitution, the government can withdraw money from it only after receiving approval from Parliament.

While the Finance Bill contains provisions on financing the expenditure of the government, an Appropriation Bill specifies the quantum and purpose for withdrawing money.

The Appropriation Bill is first passed by Lok Sabha and then sent to Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha has the power to recommend any amendments in this Bill. However, it is the prerogative of Lok Sabha to either accept or reject these recommendations.

The government had introduced the Appropriation Bill in the lower house of Parliament after discussions on Budget proposals and Voting on Demand for Grants.

Tags: #RajyaSabha #FinanceMinister #NirmalaSitharaman #AppropriationBill

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