Cut motion

Topic: Parliamentary Procedure, Committees and Privileges · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

A cut motion is a motion moved in the Lok Sabha, while it votes on the demands for grants (requests for money, usually one for each ministry), asking the House to reduce the amount of a demand.

It lets members question the government's spending and policies before the money is granted. If any cut motion is passed, the government has lost a vote on money matters. This is treated as a loss of the House's confidence, and the government is expected to resign.

Explanation

Where it fits in the budget process

The budget passes through six stages. Cut motions come at Stage 4.

Presentation: the Finance Minister presents the budget in both Houses (Art. 112). There is no vote.
General discussion: both Houses debate the budget as a whole. There is no vote.
Committee scrutiny: DRSCs (departmentally related standing committees, which are permanent committees of members from both Houses, each covering a few ministries) examine the demands during a recess of about 3–4 weeks. They have done this since 1993.
Voting on demands: the Lok Sabha alone votes on each demand (Art. 113(2)). Cut motions are moved here.
Appropriation Bill: this lets money be drawn from the Consolidated Fund (Art. 114).
Finance Bill: this puts the tax proposals into effect.

On each demand, the Lok Sabha can approve it, reduce it or refuse it.
It can never increase a demand, because only the government can propose new spending.
A cut motion is the tool the House uses to reduce a demand.
Like other questions in the House, a cut motion is decided by a simple majority of members present and voting (Art. 100).

The three types

Type	Cut proposed	Purpose
Policy cut motion	Demand reduced to Re 1	Shows disapproval of the policy behind the demand. The member may suggest a different policy.
Economy cut motion	Demand reduced by a stated amount	Points to a possible saving in spending
Token cut motion	Demand reduced by ₹100	Raises a specific grievance that falls within the government's responsibility

Why it works as a test of confidence

If a cut motion is passed, the government has been defeated on money.
A government that cannot get its money approved cannot govern.
So the defeat is read as a loss of the Lok Sabha's confidence.
The government is then expected to resign.
This links cut motions to collective responsibility. Under collective responsibility, the whole Council of Ministers answers to the Lok Sabha together, so one lost demand is a loss for all the ministers.

Limits

Cut motions can be moved only in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha can discuss demands but cannot vote on them.
They apply only to voted expenditure. Charged expenditure (such as the salaries of the President and judges, and debt payments) is not voted on (Art. 113(1)), so it cannot be cut.
The Speaker decides whether a cut motion is admissible.
The guillotine cuts them short. On the last day allotted for demands, the Speaker puts all remaining demands to vote together, without discussion. Cut motions on those demands are never debated.

In the Constitution and practice

Constitutional basis: Art. 113(2) lets the Lok Sabha assent to, refuse or reduce any demand for grants. Cut motions are the way it uses the power to reduce.
Art. 113(3): a demand can be made only on the President's recommendation. This is why the House can cut a demand but cannot raise it.
Detailed procedure: the three types of cut motion and the way they are moved are set out in the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha, not in the Constitution itself.
Who uses it: mostly the Opposition, to attack a policy, point to waste or raise a grievance.
Key instance: in April 2010, the UPA government survived cut motions that the Opposition moved over fuel price rises.
Little debate in practice: most demands are guillotined, so few cut motions are ever discussed.
2019 budget session: only about 20% of voted demands were discussed. These covered road transport, agriculture, rural development, youth affairs and sports, and railways. The rest were guillotined [2].
From 2004-05 onwards: on average only 13% of voted demands were discussed (not counting railways) [2].
2019–2023 (17th Lok Sabha): on average about 80% of the budget was voted without discussion [1].
2023: the entire budget was passed without discussion [1].

Don't confuse with

Token grant vs token cut motion: a token grant is Re 1 voted for a new service that can be paid for by moving savings from another head. It is a grant. A token cut motion reduces a demand by ₹100 to raise a grievance. The policy cut motion is the one that brings a demand down to Re 1.
No-confidence motion: this is a direct vote on whether the whole government should stay in office. A cut motion is about one demand for grants. It becomes a confidence test only because a government that loses one is expected to resign.
Guillotine: the guillotine puts all remaining demands to vote together without discussion. A cut motion seeks to reduce a single demand after debate. The guillotine often stops cut motions from being discussed.
Rajya Sabha's role: the Rajya Sabha can discuss demands for grants but cannot vote on them, so no cut motion can be moved there.

Prelims Hooks

Art. 113(2): only the Lok Sabha votes on demands for grants. It can approve, reduce or refuse a demand, but never increase it.
Policy cut = Re 1; economy cut = a stated amount; token cut = ₹100.
Trap: a token grant is also Re 1, but it is a grant, not a cut motion.
Cut motions cannot be moved on charged expenditure, because Parliament does not vote on it (Art. 113(1)).
If a cut motion is passed, it is treated as a loss of confidence and the government is expected to resign. This links cut motions to collective responsibility.
April 2010: the UPA government survived Opposition cut motions over fuel price rises.

Mains Points

Cut motions keep the executive accountable but rarely succeed.
A government with a majority almost never loses one.
So they mostly serve to raise issues, as the April 2010 fuel price cut motions against the UPA did.
Critics argue that cut motions should not all be treated as confidence votes. Members could then vote more freely on spending without bringing down the government.
The guillotine makes cut motions weaker.
About 80% of the budget passed without debate in 2019–2023, and none of it was debated in 2023 [1].
So most cut motions on most ministries are never discussed.
Possible reforms: more days for demands, taking up a different set of ministries each year, and a separate calendar for the budget session.
Better committee input could make cut motions sharper. Only 32% of DRSC reports on demands were tabled before the budget was passed in 2020–2023 [1]. If reports were due before voting, members could base their cut motions on the committees' findings.

Related concepts

Passing the budget: grants, cut motions and the Finance Bill

Sources

1Functioning of the 17th Lok Sabha: Vital Stats (PRS)prsindia.org · tier 1
2Vital Stats: Budget Session 2019, 17th Lok Sabha (PRS)prsindia.org · tier 1