New Delhi: After applying a guillotine, the Lok Sabha on Monday approved the budget estimates for expenditure contained in the demands for grants for different ministries. The guillotine was applied after the House discussed demands for grants of 4 ministries, namely railways, education, health and fisheries.About a total of Rs 140 lakh crore expenditure demands of different ministries of the central government was approved by the House, completing two-thirds of the legislative approvals needed for the full Budget for 2024-25.Guillotine means that the demands for grants for the ministries, on which it is being applied, are considered approved without a discussion. And the ‘demand for grants’ is a formal request for funds made by various ministries or departments of the government. It is part of the annual budgetary process, presented to the Lok Sabha.Besides, the House also passed the Appropriation Bill 2024, which authorises the government to use certain sums from and out of the consolidated fund of India for the services of the financial year 2024-25.Now, the Lok Sabha will discuss the Finance Bill (No 2), 2024, which essentially contains the tax proposals of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget for 2024-25. The Rajya Sabha is also parallelly discussing demands for grants for four other ministries — agriculture, new and renewable energy, cooperation and housing and urban affairs. It will also discuss the Finance Bill, but as per the Constitution, it can only return such bills to the Lower House.The budgetary exercise will be completed after the passage of the Finance Bill (No 2), 2024, by the Lok Sabha. While the guillotine literally is a large, weighted blade used for executing a condemned person, in legislative parlance, it means to bunch together and fast-track the passage of financial business.
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