With the key highlight of the session to be Union Budget by Finance Minister on Tuesday, the Monsoon Session will observe a stormy battle with united opposition, INDIA bloc, set to corner the Centre on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case and railway safety.
Schedule for the Monsoon Session:
The Monsoon Session begins on Monday and will have 19 sittings till August 12 during which the government is expected to present six bills, including the one to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act. The session will also get the Parliament nod for the budget of Jammu and Kashmir, which is under central rule. In addition, Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey in Parliament on Monday.Earlier on Sunday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju convened a meeting of the floor leaders of political parties in Parliament to understand issues they would want to raise during the session.
Economic Survey and Budget:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will present Union Budget for record-seventh time, is scheduled to table the Economic Survey on July 22 at 2:30 pm.
“The Economic Survey of India will be laid on the table of the Houses of Parliament on Monday, the 22nd of July, 2024. The Budget for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for 2024 will also be presented on the 23rd of July, 2024. Tentatively 6 items of legislative business and 3 items of financial business have been identified for being taken up during this session,” said Kiren Rijiju, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
The upcoming Budget will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s first major policy announcement after securing a third term in May. The Budget is set to host an array of measures to combat unemplyement and other persisting issues in the country.
Prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, the pre-Budget document provides an insight into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2023-24 (April-March) and some outlook for the current year.
Bills in House:
As mentioned above, the Monsoon session will also likely see six bills presented in the Parliamant.
- Finance Bill
- The Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill for introduction, consideration and passing. The proposed legislation aims to bring more clarity and convergence in the roles of different organisations working in the field of disaster management, a Lok Sabha bulletin issued Thursday said.
- The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 seeks to replace the Aircraft Act of 1934 to provide enabling provisions for ease of doing business in the civil aviation sector.
- Boilers Bill to replace the pre-Independence era law
- The Coffee (Promotion and Development) Bill
- The Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill
Moreover, the government is likely to bring amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and other laws such as Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 in the Budget Session due to which the government’s shareholding in PSBs can go down below 51 per cent.
All party meeting before Monsoon session heats up as Opposition raises several issues
An all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of Parliament’s Monsoon Session was held on Sunday morning with leaders from various political parties, including BJP president J P Nadda, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi and Union minister and LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan attending it.
Besides Congress’ Jairam Ramesh and K Suresh, Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM, RJD’s Abhay Kushwaha, JD(U) Sanjay Jha, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, SP leader Ramgopal Yadav and NCP’s Praful Patel were also present at the customary meet.
During the crucial meeting, the Opposition drew the battle lines as they asked the government to allow discussion on a host of contentious issues such as the Uttar Pradesh government’s order to eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route and exam paper leaks, including the prestigious NEET. The government, which breaking from the recent practice invited a number of smaller parties for the meeting to signal its political outreach, conveyed its willingness to discuss all issues, while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stressed that it should be in accordance with the rules.
He called for cooperation from all parties for running the Parliament smoothly, saying it is a collective responsibility. Chairing the meeting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke against disruptions in Parliament and said its sanctity must be maintained.
BJP allies as well as opposition parties came together in seeking special category status for different states, presenting the government with a tricky issue to negotiate during the session. Representatives from the JD(U), a BJP ally, as well as the opposition parties BJD and the YSR Congress Party demanded the status for Bihar, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, respectively.
Congress leader K Suresh told reporters that his party was joined by other INDIA bloc members in seeking the Lok Sabha deputy speaker’s position for the opposition according to convention.
The Congress flagged the issue related to alleged irregularities in the exams conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, whose chairperson resigned recently for reportedly personal reasons.
The stand of several opposition parties, including the Congress, the DMK and the AAP, made it all but certain that the political heat sparked by the Uttar Pradesh government’s order asking eateries and carts selling eatables to display their owners’ names on the route of kanwarias will reach Parliament when the session begins from Monday.
The government on its part asked opposition parties to not disrupt Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings, seeking their cooperation in running Parliament smoothly.
Rajnath Singh, Rijiju said, recalled the opposition’s relentless protest during Prime Minister Modi’s reply to the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address during the previous session, and said such disruptions should not take place.
(With agency inputs)
