The Hindu Business Line : Lok Sabha passes demands for grants

THE Lok Sabha today passed the demands for grants of various Ministries amounting to Rs 11,52,521.58 crore, completing the second stage of the Union Budget 2005-06.

The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, put the various demands for grants of as many as 105 departments of the Government to provide for appropriation of the relevant amount out of the Consolidated Fund of India for expenditure of the Central Government, excluding Railways, for 2005-06.

The Lok Sabha discussed only the demands for grants of the Ministries of Rural Development, Home Affairs, and Science and Technology, and guillotined the demands for grants of the rest of the departments without discussion.

With this, the general discussion and passage of the demand for grants of the various Ministries were completed and the House would take up for consideration and passing the Finance Bill 2005 tomorrow. Prior to the passage of the relevant appropriation Bill, 2005 the Minister of Science and Technology Mr Kapil Sibal, while winding up a short discussion on the demands for grant of his Ministry, said that the focus was to put more money into agriculture and take care of people's health concerns.

He added that his Ministry would strive to take advantage of the low-cost economy with high-quality human resources to make India a major power in knowledge economy.

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