Budget and Constitutional Provisions: UPSC Daily Important Topic | 20 December 2021

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