Budget 2024: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi gathers floor leaders for discussions

Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi/PTI

In preparation for the Budget 2024, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi will meet with floor leaders from various political parties in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday. The Budget Session 2024, which begins on January 31 and is projected to last until February 9, comes ahead of the general elections in April-May.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce the interim budget on February 1. The session will begin with President Droupadi Murmu addressing a joint meeting of both Houses of Parliament.

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Given the importance of the interim budget, which handles budgetary demands until a government is formed following the Lok Sabha elections, the gathering will seek thoughts and feedback from political figures across party lines.

In a related development, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has issued crucial suggestions ahead of the budget presentation. These include meeting disinvestment targets, proposing a three-year disinvestment schedule, incorporating petroleum, electricity, and real estate into GST with a three-rate structure, increasing capital expenditure by 20 per cent to Rs 12 lakh crores, and establishing a dedicated Ministry of Investment. The CII's proposals represent the industry's expectations and goals for the upcoming budget.

Meanwhile, speaking to ANI, ahead of the Budget 2024, Indian Medical Association chief Dr RV Asokan said that the investment in health has stagnated and the government-run hospitals and their human resources need to be strengthened. Asokan added that the budgetary stagnation happened despite the disease burdens increasing.

He told ANI, "Our health investment has stagnated at 1.1 per cent of the GDP for many years. This underfunding is a reason for poor infrastructure and lack of human resources. So we feel without including the budget for drinking water sanitation, which we call health determinants, the core health budget should be at least 2.5 per cent. We would want that the public sector (hospitals) be strengthened and human resources increase."

Asokan also remarked that the Union government's Ayushman Bharat scheme needs restructuring so as to benefit private hospitals too, per ANI report. He was quoted as saying, "Two-thirds of the funding for Ayushman Bharat goes to government hospitals. I think that's not a great idea because the people are not feeling the relief. Because already it is free. So, it is another way of funding the government hospitals, rather through insurance companies, where they take a share of service provision for 10 to 15 per cent, which is a poor way of funding our government hospitals."

He further voiced, "We feel the Ayushman Bharat should be restructured for strategic purchases from the private sector and the government has its own channels to fund public sector hospitals through direct sources."