Parliament has announced the ministries whose Demands for Grants will be discussed in detail in the Lok Sabha (after April 12 when Parliament reconvenes). They are:
Defence
Rural Development
Tribal Affairs
Water Resources
External Affairs
Road Transport and Highways
Together these ministries have asked Parliament for a total of Rs 289,938 crore (Rs 175,772 crore for Defence alone) – which is slightly over a quarter of the total expenditure budgeted by the Central Government for 2010-11.
The Rajya Sabha does not discuss demands for grants but has announced a list of ministries whose functioning it will review after the recess. They are:
Home Affairs
Tribal Affairs
Defence
Power
Chemicals and Fertilizers
Petroleum and Natural Gas
Youth affairs and Sports
Women and Child Development
Consumer affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
The following is a comparison of the rules regarding the transparency of MPs' private interests in India and South Africa. In India, conflict of interest amongst MPs has been debated extensively in the recent past. The primary check on preventing potential conflicts is that all MPs must declare their assets and liabilities to the concerned Speaker (Lok Sabha) or Chairman (Rajya Sabha). The Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee maintains a register of these interests (no such register exists for Lok Sabha MPs). Details in the Register of Members' Interests include: remunerative directorship, regular remunerated activity, shareholding of controlling nature, paid consultancy, and professional engagement. This material, however, is not put in the public domain. An interesting comparison is the Parliament of South Africa, where the Register of Members Interests' (consisting of MPs from both upper and lower house) is made public. Financial interests of MPs, remuneration from employment outside of Parliament, directorships, consultancies, property details, pensions, etc., are all made public (see latest register here).
