Token grant
Topic: Parliamentary Procedure, Committees and Privileges · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A token grant is a grant of a symbolic sum of Re 1. The Lok Sabha votes it when the government wants to pay for a new service that was not in the budget. The money already exists as savings under another head (another heading of spending). The Re 1 vote gives Parliament's approval to the new service. The government then moves the savings across to pay for it. This move is called re-appropriation. So the grant adds almost no new money, but Parliament still keeps control of the purse.
Example
Suppose a ministry wants to start a new scheme in the middle of the year and has unspent money under an older scheme. It asks the Lok Sabha for a token grant of Re 1. Once that is voted, it shifts the unspent money to the new scheme.
Don't confuse with
- Token cut motion: an opposition motion to reduce a demand by ₹100 to raise a specific grievance. It does not approve spending.
- Additional grant: real new money voted for a new service that was not in the budget, when no savings are available to pay for it.
Related concepts
- Demands for grants
- Guillotine
- Appropriation Bill
- Finance Bill
- Cut motion
- Policy cut motion
- Economy cut motion
- Token cut motion
- Supplementary grant
- Additional grant