Budget and Constitutional Provisions
•According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the Union Budget of a year is referred to as the Annual Financial Statement (AFS).
•It is a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government in a financial year (which begins on 01 April of the current year and ends on 31 March of the following year). In addition to it, the Budget contains:
∆ Estimates of revenue and capital receipts,
∆ Ways and means to raise the revenue,
∆ Estimates of expenditure,
∆ Details of the actual receipts and expenditure of the closing financial year and the reasons for any deficit or surplus in that year, and
∆The economic and financial policy of the coming year, i.e., taxation proposals, prospects of revenue, spending programme and introduction of new schemes/projects.
∆ In Parliament, the Budget goes through six stages:
✓Presentation of Budget.
✓General discussion.
✓Scrutiny by Departmental Committees.
✓Voting on Demands for Grants.
✓Passing of Appropriation Bill.
✓Passing of Finance Bill.
•The Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry is the nodal body responsible for preparing the Budget
