Rajya Sabha returns Appropriation bills

New Delhi [India], December 21 (ANI): Rajya Sabha on Wednesday returned two Appropriation Bills authorising payment of certain sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the current financial year.

The Bills-Appropriation (No 5) Bill, 2022 and the Appropriation (No 4) Bill, 2022- which Lok Sabha earlier passed, were cleared in the Upper House with a voice vote followed by a detailed discussion held on Monday and Tuesday. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had moved both the bills on Monday in the Rajya Sabha for consideration and return.

The Appropriation (No 5) Bill, 2022 authorises payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2022-2023, while the Appropriation (No 4) Bill, 2022 provides for the authorization of appropriation of money out of the consolidated fund of India to meet the amounts spent on certain services during the financial year ended on March 31, 2020, in excess of the amounts granted for those services and for that year.

Participating in the debate over these Bills, Sitharaman said all “we (the government) want is transparency and compliance with statutory fiscal rules”.
“It is important to recognise that when you are transparent in your methods, there is no debate over it (freebies),” the Minister said.

“Subsidies and freebies are to be contextualised. If you are able to put it in your budget and make a provision for it when your revenues come and you give the money, why would anyone have an objection? Education, health and many subsidies given to farmers are fully justified,” Sitharaman said.

“There are media reports that one state government is unable to pay the salary of its employees timely and the employees are protesting. It’s perhaps because funds are being used to give numerous different advertisements all over the country,” the Minister said in her speech.