Simultaneously the world's fastest and slowest-growing economy

The reactions to the results of the Lok Sabha polls just concluded remind me of an episode during the first UPA government. After the budget presentation for that year in Parliament, a privilege motion was moved against the then Finance Minister, P Chidambaram. Parliamentary privileges are special rights that provide protection to legislators from select laws. The idea behind these privileges is that MPs (Members of Parliament) should get to perform their duties without fearing repercussions for what they say on the floor of the house during debates. They should get to speak their mind freely and speak truth to power. One of their privileges is the immunity provided from court proceedings for speeches in Parliament. To ensure checks and balances on the freedoms enjoyed by MPs, a system of privilege motion exists. If MPs feel someone has breached parliamentary privileges, they can raise a privilege motion. The budget papers laid by P Chidambaram in Parliament had triggered such a motion. As is standard practice, the budget reported figures for the two deficits, the revenue and the fiscal deficits, expressed as a percentage of GDP. The motion pointed out that the back calculation of the GDP from these two figures

This article was originally published on July 01, 2024.