<span style="color: #222222;">The Rajya Sabha today took up the Appropriation (No.5) Bill, 2021 for consideration and return. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had moved the bill in the House. The Bill seeks to authorize payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the Financial Year 2021-22.<br />''<br />''The legislation seeks to authorize the Government for gross additional expenditure of more than 3.73 lakh crore rupees during the period of 2021-22. Out of the additional net cash outgo of 2.99 lakh crore rupees provision has been made for big-ticket expenditure like Air India, Fertilizers subsidies, and MGNREGA.<br />''<br />''Initiating the discussion on the bill, Sujeet Kumar of BJD while supporting the bill stressed the need to reform the fertilizer sectors. He drew the attention of the government towards leakage in fertilizer subsidies.<br />''<br />''M Thambidurai of AIADMK also supported the bill saying that the Narendra Modi government is taking a lot of welfare programmes for the welfare of people.<br />''<br />''K  Ravindra Kumar of TDP supported the bill and urged the government to fulfill the promises regarding various projects in Andhra Pradesh.<br />''<br />''G K Vasan of TMC (M) while supporting the bill appreciated the work of Narendra Modi government saying that it has a long-term plan and has succeeded in executing massive schemes.<br />''<br />''Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP said that the NDA government took the decision to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to provide relief to the common people. He said, following it, the BJP ruled States have also lowered the VAT on Petrol and Diesel but some opposition ruled States have not slashed down it. The debate on the bill remained inconclusive.</span><br />