Know more about how a Budget is Passed in Parliament

Indian Parliament include, preparation for the budget, enactment of the budget, execution of the budget and parliamentary control over finance.

Here is How Budget is Passed in Parliament:

1) Before tabling the budget, the Finance Minister gives a speech in the Lok Sabha. This year, interim finance minister Piyush Goyal will give a speech in Parliament.

2) Following the Finance Minister’s speech, the budget would be tabled in Parliament.

3) What follows next is the discussion over the economy as well as broad measures on the budget without voting.
Note: If it is a full budget then, Parliament would take a three-week break before resuming. However, this year being an interim budget, the passage of the budget will take place soon after the discussion. Further, the election year calls for short Parliament sessions.

4) Now comes the role of committee and cut motions.
If it is a full budget, Parliamentary Standing Committees will demand for grants and give resources on ministries’ estimates.

5) Parliamentarians can move cut motions if they want to seek cut in grants to ministries. This procedure is done away with in case of passage of an interim budget.

6) Now, comes the process of guillotining.

7) If a demand for grants is not voted till the last day of the session, then it is ‘guillotined’.
Note: Demands of grants for many of the ministries are guillotined or voted upon jointly.

8) After this, appropriation bill is introduced in Parliament.

9) Now, the bill is voted upon after demands for grants which further enables the government of India to spend ‘consolidated fund of India’.

10) If the appropriation bill is given a go-ahead, no amendment to the bill could be proposed in either the lower house or the upper house.

11) Now, the bill is sent for the President’s acceptance. If the bill gets President’s assent, then it becomes an appropriation act.