India budget voted without debate

The opposition says Singh (left) insulted them

India's parliament has passed the national budget amid a boycott by opposition parties.

There was no discussion on tax proposals announced as part of the 4,780 billion rupees ($104bn) budget.

The lower house passed the budget by a voice vote as opposition MPs stayed away after alleging that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had insulted them.

Parliament has been disrupted for weeks by a political standoff over ministers facing criminal charges.

'Not happy'

The main opposition BJP says the prime minister refused to discuss the budget at a private meeting on Wednesday.

But the prime minister's office has denied that Mr Singh had insulted the opposition leaders saying Mr Singh had only said that any discussion of the budget should take place in parliament and not outside it.

"This is not a happy occasion," Speaker of the lower house, Somnath Chatterjee, said after Thursday's vote.

"The parliament of India is passing the finance bill and the demands for grants without a discussion."

The BJP-led opposition has been disrupting parliament demanding that Mr Singh sack some of his cabinet ministers who are facing criminal charges.

Focus on poor

In his first budget, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has pledged billions of dollars for improving education and health services for the poor as well as special assistance for farmers.

He also increased military spending by nearly 18% to 770bn rupees ($16.73bn) to pay for modernising India's armed forces.

Mr Chidambaram promised to eliminate the deficit by the 2008-09 fiscal year and set the next deficit target at 4.4%.

But the ruling coalition's Communist allies have expressed their disapproval at plans to allow more foreign investment in the critical telecom, insurance and civil aviation sectors.