A little too late

The parliamentary standing committee on finance last week refused to take up budget of NITI Aayog

The parliamentary standing committee on finance last week refused to take up the budget of NITI Aayog when its CEO Amitabh Kant appeared before the panel. The members said they would not take up the budget because the detailed demands for grants by the Aayog were not tabled in the Budget session of Parliament. When Kant said he had all the relevant papers and could present it to the panel, the members pointed out that these should be routed through the Lok Sabha Speaker’s office. The members were miffed that the Aayog had not presented its annual report and the outcome budget, which would have showed them how and where the taxpayers’ money was spent by the Aayog, earlier.