Government Seeks Parliament Approval For Rs 58,000 Crore Additional Spending

The Union government presented a proposal to Parliament on Wednesday (6 December) seeking approval for an additional spending allocation of Rs 58,000 crore.

The primary focus of this supplementary demand for grants is to channel more funds into key areas such as the government-backed employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA, fertilisers, and fuel subsidies.

In simpler terms, the government is asking for the go-ahead to spend more money, and the first part of this plan involves Rs 58,378 crore.

This is part of a larger extra spending of Rs 1.29 lakh crore.

The Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, explained this in the Lok Sabha, saying, "We are seeking approval from Parliament to spend an extra Rs 1,29,348.85 crore. Out of this, Rs 58,378.21 crore will be actual cash spending", reported BQprime.

To make up the rest of the extra money, Rs 70,968 crore will come from savings. This extra spending seeks to help the government meet its goal of keeping the fiscal deficit at 5.9 per cent of the country's total economic output.

Key allocations in the supplementary spending proposal include:

1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Rs 14,524.29 crore

3. Transfer to the guarantee redemption fund for Exim Bank Loan guarantees: Rs 9,013.72 crore

4. Additional expenditure for defense services towards stores: Rs 8,493.86 crores (with a cash outgo expected at Rs 3,624.10 crores)

5. Extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana: Rs 4,807 crore

6. Transfers to Jammu and Kashmir for additional expenditure towards Central Assistance: Rs 3,170.00 crore

7. LPG subsidy to poor households: Rs 8,500 crore

8. Clearing the government's liability on election-related expenditures: Rs 2,536.65 crore

The proposal also includes a token amount of Rs 2.49 crore, with Rs 1 lakh for each item of expenditure, facilitating the re-appropriation of savings.