The Rajya Sabha today took up the Appropriation Bills for consideration and return. The Appropriation Bills authorize payment and appropriation of sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India.<br />''        <br />'' Initiating the discussion over the Bills, Congress MP P Chidambaram raised several questions ranging from lowering of corporate tax to situation on LAC. He said, contribution of corporate tax in gross tax revenue in 2013-14 was 34 percent which has been reduced to 26 percent by the present government.<br />'' <br />'' He accused the government of conferring huge bonanza to corporate sector. He said, private investment is sluggish in the country and export is decreasing which led to increase in trade deficit.<br />'' <br />'' During his speech, Mr. Chidambaram also raised the India-China border issue seeking government response on it. When he was raising the issue, the House witnessed heated arguments between treasury and opposition benches.<br />'' <br />'' Participating in the discussion, Sushil Modi of BJP highlighted the measures taken by the government to boost the economy and ensure welfare of the people.<br />'' <br />'' He said, inflation has been contained at 5.88 percent and growth rate is expected to be 6.8 per cent this year. He said, India has become the fastest-growing economy and government is working to make it a five trillion dollar economy. Mr. Modi said, NPA which was 11 percent in 2018 has been brought down to 5.9 percent.<br />'' <br />'' The BJP MP also talked about the measures taken by the government during Covid-19 pandemic and direct benefit transfer to provide benefit to the people.<br />'' <br />'' He also spoke against the restoration of Old Pension Scheme for government employees. Derek O' Brien of TMC criticized the government on the issue of unemployment saying it has been eight percent in the last three month.<br />'' <br />'' Raghav Chadha of Aam Aadmi Party raised the issues including unemployment and inflation. He said, the unemployment rate has reached to 8 percent in 2022 which was 4.9 percent in 2014.<br />'' <br />'' Among others, Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu of DMK, Dr Prashanta Nanda of BJD, V Vijayasai Reddy of YSRCP were who participated in the discussion. The discussion remained inconclusive.