Lok Sabha approves Rs 1.03 lakh cr additional spending for government

The Lok Sabha on Thursday approved an additional spending of Rs 1.03 lakh crore by the central government during the current fiscal, including a cash outgo of Rs 20,948.26 crore based on the Supplementary Demand for Grants moved by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

During the debate, Jaitley said the states and central government need to stick to their fiscal expenditure.

"We need to optimise tax revenues at central and state level. I am hopeful we will maintain our projections as far as fiscal deficit is concerned," he said.

"The Union government needs funds. Pay commission has put a burden of Rs 1.03 lakh crore, OROP (one rank one pension) has put a burden of Rs 12,000 crore," he said.

The spending is in addition to the total expenditure of Rs 19.78 lakh crore, consisting of Rs 5.50 lakh crore under Plan and Rs 14.28 lakh crore under Non-Plan, projected in the Union Budget 2016-17.

The Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2016-17 include Rs 5,000 crore towards the National Employment Guarantee Fund and Rs 1,000 crore for funding the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves for Sovereign Strategic Crude Oil Reserve at Vizag, Mangalore and Pudur.

The Demands For Grants also include Rs 40,000 crore as Ways and Means Advance to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to meet the working capital requirements towards procurement of food grain for targeted public distribution system.

It also includes Rs 5,000 crore towards the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Rs 2,000 crore to states affected by natural calamities like hailstorm and non-seasonal rain under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), and Rs 31,957 crore to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways under various heads.

--IANS

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