Cut motion

Also called: Policy cut, Economy cut, Token cut · Topic: Government Budget, Fiscal Policy and FRBM · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

A cut motion is a motion moved by a member of the Lok Sabha to reduce the amount of a demand for grant (the spending request of a ministry or department). Its main use is to criticise the government [1].

• Only the Lok Sabha votes on demands for grants. It can agree to a demand, reject it or reduce it, but it can never increase it. The cut motion is the tool it uses to reduce a demand.
• A cut motion lets the Opposition focus debate on one ministry's policy, its spending or a specific grievance. If the House passes it, the government has lost a money vote.

Explanation

Where cut motions fit in the budget cycle

• Voted expenditure is all spending other than charged expenditure. Under Art. 113, it must be put to the Lok Sabha as demands for grants, ministry by ministry [2].
• Charged expenditure is spending fixed by the Constitution, such as the President's emoluments, Supreme Court judges' salaries and interest on debt. Parliament can discuss it but does not vote on it. So there is no demand to cut, and cut motions apply only to voted demands.
• Sequence of stages:
• Presentation (Art. 112)
• General discussion. No voting happens here and no cut motion can be moved.
• Scrutiny by the DRSCs during the recess
• Voting on demands (Art. 113). Cut motions are moved at this stage.
• Appropriation Bill (Art. 114)

• Finance Bill

• Only the Lok Sabha votes on demands. The Rajya Sabha can only discuss them, so cut motions are a Lok Sabha tool.

The three types of cut motion

Type	How much is cut	What it says
Policy cut	The demand is reduced to ₹1	"We disapprove of the policy behind this demand."
Economy cut	The demand is reduced by a specified amount	"This spending is too high. Save this much money."
Token cut	The demand is reduced by ₹100	"We have a particular grievance within the government's policy."

• Policy cut: this is the strongest attack. It rejects the idea behind the spending, not only the amount. The member who moves it may also suggest another policy.
• Economy cut: this attacks the size of the spending. It asks for a real saving of money.
• Token cut: this is a symbolic protest. The money cut is tiny. It is used to raise a specific problem, for example poor service in one area.

Worked example

Ministry X asks for ₹10,000 crore.

• Policy cut: the demand becomes ₹1.
• Economy cut of ₹500 crore: the demand becomes ₹9,500 crore.
• Token cut: the demand becomes ₹10,000 crore minus ₹100. The amount hardly changes. The point of the motion is the protest.

Why a cut motion carries political weight

• If the Lok Sabha passes a cut motion:
• The government has lost a vote on money.
• Control over money is the core of Parliament's power over the executive.

• So a passed cut motion can be read as a loss of confidence in the government.

• This is why ruling parties make sure their members are present when demands are voted.

What limits cut motions

• Guillotine: on the last day allotted for demands, the Speaker puts all remaining demands to vote together, without discussion [1].
• Only a few demands are discussed within the allotted days. The rest are decided by the Speaker with the agreement of the House [1].

• Cut motions on the guillotined demands are therefore never debated.

• In practice, almost all demands for grants are grouped and voted together this way [2].

In India

• Constitutional base: Art. 113 requires voted expenditure to come to the Lok Sabha as demands for grants [2]. The Constitution requires the Lok Sabha to approve spending from the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), the government's main account [1]. Cut motions are how the House uses its power to reduce a demand.
• Who handles it:
• The Lok Sabha votes on the demands and on any cut motions.
• The Speaker applies the guillotine on the last allotted day.

• The Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) are small, permanent committees of MPs, in place since 1993. They study each ministry's demands during the recess, so members have detailed material when they move cut motions [2].

• Budget Session 2026:

• The Union Budget 2026-27 was presented on 1 February 2026 [2].
• The recess for DRSC scrutiny ran from 14 February to 8 March 2026. Parliament met again on 9 March 2026 [3].
• The Lok Sabha discussed the demands of only the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in detail [3]. Most other demands, and any cut motions on them, were decided without debate.
• After voting, the demands were put into Appropriation Bills. Two Appropriation Bills were passed in the second part of the session [3].

Don't confuse with

• Policy cut vs token cut: a policy cut reduces the demand to ₹1 and rejects the policy. A token cut reduces it by ₹100 and only airs a grievance. Exams often swap these two amounts.
• Economy cut: unlike the other two, it has no fixed amount. It cuts a specified sum and aims at a real saving.
• Guillotine: a cut motion is moved by a member to reduce one demand. The guillotine is used by the Speaker to put all remaining demands to vote together, without discussion.
• Charged expenditure: it is not voted, so no cut motion can be moved on it. Cut motions apply only to voted demands under Art. 113.

Prelims Hooks

• Policy cut = reduce the demand to ₹1. Token cut = reduce it by ₹100. Economy cut = reduce it by a specified amount.
• Cut motions are moved only in the Lok Sabha, at the stage of voting on demands for grants (Art. 113). The Rajya Sabha cannot vote on demands.
• No cut motion can be moved during the general discussion stage of the budget.
• The Lok Sabha can reduce or reject a demand but can never increase it.
• Charged expenditure (for example, Supreme Court judges' salaries or interest on debt) can be discussed but not voted on, so cut motions cannot apply to it.
• The guillotine puts all remaining demands to vote together without discussion on the last allotted day, so most cut motions are never debated [1].

Mains Points

• Cut motions are weakened by the guillotine (GS-II):
• Almost all demands are voted together without debate [2].
• In 2026, only Railways and Agriculture were discussed in detail [3].
• Central spending rose from ₹3.3 lakh crore (2000-01) to ₹24.4 lakh crore (2018-19) [4]. As the budget grows, a weak cut-motion process means weaker control by Parliament.

• Possible reforms: more days for demands, required debate on the largest ministries, and using DRSC reports as the basis for cut motions.

• Accountability vs stability:

• Cut motions let the Opposition question policy (policy cut), waste (economy cut) and local problems (token cut). This builds executive accountability into the budget process.

• Because a passed cut motion signals a loss of confidence, governments rarely allow one to pass. In practice, cut motions work mostly as a tool for debate and protest, not as a real way to change spending.

• Link to fiscal discipline (GS-III):

• An economy cut is Parliament's direct way to demand savings at the spending stage, before money is drawn from the CFI through the Appropriation Bill.
• Used well, alongside DRSC scrutiny, it supports the FRBM goal of controlled and well-planned spending.

Related concepts

• Demand for grants
• Guillotine
• Appropriation Bill
• Finance Bill
• Money Bill
• Vote on account
• Interim budget
• Supplementary grant
• Excess grant
• Vote of credit

Read more

• Passing the budget: from demands for grants to the Finance Act