The Lok Sabha on Thursday gave its nod for Modi-led Government to incur an additional spend of Rs 59,978.29 crore, including a net cash outgo of Rs 35,171.92 crore during 2016-17.

Replying to the short discussion on second batch of supplementary demand for grants in the lower house, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley noted that the Plan expenditure during this fiscal -- like last fiscal -- would be much higher than the budgeted levels.

He highlighted that the Plan expenditure this fiscal -- after the first two supplementary demand for grants -- has already come to a level of Rs 5.95 lakh crore as against the budgeted level of Rs 5.5 lakh crore for 2016-17.

The Government's social sector spend this fiscal will be at least 8 per cent higher than the level initially budgeted, he added.

Jaitley highlighted that the Government plans to spend as much as Rs 4,000 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) through the second batch of supplementary demands and noted that as much as Rs 47,000 crore will be spent under this scheme this fiscal.

Black money

Jaitley used the occasion to launch an attack on the Congress party, which is the leading Opposition party in the lower house, for its poor record on taking action against black money generated in the country.,

In fact, Jaitley even challenged the Congress members to come out with instance of even a single measure taken against black money during the UPA's 10-year rule from 2004 to 2014

With the Congress not yielding to take up discussion on demonetisation issue under Rule 193, the lower house was adjourned for the day soon after the relevant appropriation Bills, empowering the Government to draw funds from the consolidated fund of India was passed by the Lok Sabha.

srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

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