The Budget Session, starting today, will not be smooth sailing for the government as the Opposition is likely to take on the Centre on a number of issues.
Here’s a look at what’s expected to make this session a stormy one.
Budget session starts today
The Budget session of Parliament is starting today even as political parties are in the midst of a campaigning for elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is locked in a bitter electoral contest with its rivals.
The session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to a joint sitting of both houses in the Central Hall and chambers of both the Houses in view of the COVID-19 situation.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Economic Survey 2021-22 on Monday and the Union Budget on Tuesday.
Keeping the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of cases in the country in mind, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will return to separate timings with members seated in the chambers of both houses to ensure social distancing norms.
While the upper house will sit from 10 am to 3 pm, the lower house will sit from 4 pm to 9 pm.
The Lok Sabha will take up the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address from Wednesday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the debate on 7 February.
Lok Sabha secretariat officials said four days beginning 2 February have been provisionally allotted for the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address.
The first part of the Budget Session will be held from 31 January to 11 February after which it will go into a recess to examine the budgetary allocations for different departments.
The Session would resume on 14 March and conclude on 8 April. The first part of the session will have 10 sittings while 19 sittings are scheduled for the second part.
Pegasus set to create storm
The recent New York Times‘ report on the Pegasus snooping is bound to create a storm in Parliament. The Opposition is preparing to unitedly take on the government over the issue.
For the unversed, the US-based newspaper had recently published a report that stated that India had purchased the snooping spyware as part of a defence deal with Israel in 2017.
News agency PTI has reported that Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has already written to Speaker Om Birla for moving a privilege motion against the government and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for “misleading” the House, as the government had denied the charges of “spying” in a statement in Parliament last year.
PTI citing sources said that the government is unlikely to agree to a discussion on the issue and will focus on getting its legislative business cleared.
Indo-China dispute
The issue of Chinese incursions and ‘kidnapping’ of a 17-year-old from Arunachal is also going to be raised in Parliament, with the Congress asking like-minded parties to raise these issues.
There have been multiple reports of China building infrastructure along the LAC, which should worry the government.
In early January, satellite images showed China building a bridge on its side of the Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh amid the prolonged Sino-India military standoff in the border area. At the time, sources, according to a PTI report, said the bridge is at a distance of around 40 km from the alignment of the LAC in the region and that India has also been developing infrastructure in the region at a rapid pace.
Moreover, China has been building several villages near the Arunachal Pradesh border, which is another cause of concern.
Farmers’ issue
It has been reported that opposition parties will also try to raise the pitch on farmers’ issues which are in spotlight in Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, two states which saw major protests against the Centre’s farm laws that were repealed during the last session.
Air India disinvestment
The Congress is also looking to corner the Centre on Air India’s disinvestment.
On 27 January, the disinvestment of national carrier Air India was completed. With this, the control of Air India went back to the Tata Group, which won the bid to acquire the company.
Commenting on the same, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that it is a win-win situation for all stakeholders concerned for the government. He said, “I think it is a win-win situation for all stakeholders concerned, for Govt and for Tata Group. This transaction represents a huge quantum jump in terms of capabilities in the Civil Aviation sector.”
With inputs from agencies
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