Lok Sabha on Tuesday gave its approval to the central government to spend an additional Rs 1.48 lakh crore during the current financial year 2022–23, amid an uproar by opposition parties on the Adani issue. On 13 March, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary tabled the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the House, amounting to a total of Rs 2,70,508.89 crore.
Of the total additional cash outgo, Rs 36,325 crore is for payment towards fertilizer subsidies. This includes an additional subsidy outgo of Rs 21,000 crore for P&K (phosphorus and potassium) and Rs 15,325.36 crore for urea. The second batch of supplementary demands, or ‘Appropriation Bill (No. 2), 2023,’ was passed without discussion amid continuous uproar by the opposition, demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against the Adani Group of companies.
According to the bill passed, the government has been authorized to make additional transfers to the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore. There would also be an additional outgo of Rs 33,718.49 crore for defense pensions, particularly on account of payment of arrears towards the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. The requirement for additional transfers to the GST Compensation Fund towards states and union territories has been pegged at Rs 33,506 crore.
