Feel sad Budget was passed without discussion, says FM Sitharaman | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Feel sad Budget was passed without discussion, says FM Sitharaman

Apr 05, 2023 07:13 AM IST

The finance minister said the issues being raised were aimed at deflecting attention from India’s economic progress

NEW DELHI Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said she was “sad” that the Union Budget was passed without any discussion in both Houses of Parliament because of unrelenting disruptions by the Opposition.

The parliamentary process for approval of the <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>45 lakh crore Union Budget was completed in less than 15 minutes in both Houses. (PTI)
The parliamentary process for approval of the 45 lakh crore Union Budget was completed in less than 15 minutes in both Houses. (PTI)

The parliamentary process for approval of the 45 lakh crore Union Budget was completed in less than 15 minutes in both Houses. First, the Lok Sabha approved the Budget on March 24 without any discussion, but with a few clarifications by the finance minister. Later, on March 27, the Rajya Sabha returned the Finance Bill to the Lok Sabha without any discussion, a fact that Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar termed “most unfortunate”.

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“I feel sad that the Budget was passed without discussion. My effort through the years has been to provide an honest and transparent Budget…” she said while interacting with the media. Sitharaman had presented the Budget on February 1.

So far, no debate has been undertaken in Parliament during the Budget session because on one side the Opposition has been adamant on its demand for an investigation by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into Hindenburg Research’s report alleging that the Adani Group was involved in fraud and on the other side the ruling party stuck to its stand that senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi must apologise for his allegedly anti-India outburst in a foreign country.

To be sure, this is not the first time that the annual exercise of the passage of the Budget has been “guillotined” or passed without discussion. The Budget was passed similarly in 2004-05 and 2013-14.

Passed by Parliament with dozens of amendments, without discussion, the Finance Bill 2023 focused on capital investment as a key driver of growth and employment that raised the outlay by 33% to 10 lakh crore. Taking grants in aid to states together, the effective capital expenditure of the Centre is budgeted at 13.7 lakh crore, which will be 4.5% of GDP. The Budget for FY24 also focused on tax rationalisation, particularly for the new, exemption-free regime, incentives to domestic manufacturing with emphasis on micro, small and medium enterprises and social upliftment.

While the Opposition has cornered the government over not agreeing to the combined demand for a JPC, the finance minister said the issues being raised were aimed at deflecting attention from India’s economic progress despite headwinds such as the Ukraine war and global supply chain disruptions that stoked inflation forcing central banks to raise interest rates. In its recently released report on India, the World Bank acknowledged that India is one of the fastest growing major economies and continues to show resilience.

“The issues raised by the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi are intended to deflect attention from the Indian economy going strong; we have had record GST collection recently and are the fastest growing economy. Gandhi indulged in fear mongering by referring to SBI [State Bank of India] and LIC [Life Insurance Corporation], but in the absence of any proof, he stopped raising the issue,” she said.

Gandhi has alleged that SBI and LIC were “forced” to make investments to save the Adani Group. Both entities later issued statements about their exposure in the group, which they said was miniscule in the context of their overall investment portfolios.

While the two financial institutions said their exposure was well within “permissible limits”, senior bureaucrats, requesting anonymity, said the Adani Group never defaulted on repayments.

Sitharaman said the government will not revisit the policy on disinvestment, which has become a bone of contention as well, with Opposition parties as well as some offshoots of the ruling BJP’s ideological fount, the RSS, being against it.

“We will continue with disinvestment,” the FM said. According to one of the officials cited above, the government is not divesting control in strategic sectors that have been clearly spelled out and will continue to have a strong public sector presence in those areas. For other sectors, the Cabinet has already taken decisions to disinvest.

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