This time the budget session of the Parliament in India will be in two phases. That is, during the fifth session of the 17th Lok Sabha there will be a holiday of a few days, after which the proceedings will start again.
Due to the Corona pandemic, the budget session of the Parliament will run according to the new ‘protocol’, bypassing many traditions of Parliament.
This will be the first time that even during the President’s address to the Parliament, members will sit in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha besides the ‘Central Hall’. Earlier, during the address, all the members used to sit in the ‘Central Hall’.
The budget session will start on 29th of January, but Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget on 1 February. Before that, the government will present a copy of the Economic Survey in the House.
In the first round, the proceedings of the House will last till February 15, while in the second round, the session will run from March 8 to April 8.
There will be 35 meetings in the entire session, of which 11 will be in the first round and 24 in the second round. Sources in the Lok Sabha Secretariat have told the hawala of the ordinance issued in this regard that the holiday being given from 15 February is intended to give time for the meetings of various committees of Parliament and the reports of these committees till 8 March. To present in the House.
There are many types of standing committees in Parliament like – Committees related to Public Accounts, Estimates, Privileges and Government Assurances. These committees usually consist of 21 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members.
The meetings of these committees are held from time to time during and even after the session. But it is mandatory that the report related to the meetings of the committees be presented in the House during each subsequent session.
According to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, in view of Corona, the health check-up of the MPs will be arranged near his residence, so that his family members do not have to come to the Parliament House for this.
The winter session of Parliament could not take place due to the Corona epidemic and many steps were taken in the monsoon session as well.
During the monsoon session, the most important tradition of parliamentary work i.e. Question Hour was postponed. Amid opposition from the opposition, the government argued that this was done in the wake of the epidemic. But this time the question hour has been restored in the budget session.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi of the Government of India and Arjun Ram Meghwal, Deputy Minister in his ministry, held a meeting with the secretaries of all the ministries so that the questions asked by the members can be answered timely and properly.
According to Joshi, “the preparations were reviewed with the secretaries of all departments and ministries so that the legislative work could run smoothly.”
On the other hand, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla also wrote a letter to all the states that they should ensure that the members of Parliament can attend the budget session without facing any difficulty.
This will be the first time in the history of Parliament, when the copy of the budget will not be given to the members in the form of paper and will be given digitally.
A copy of the Economic Survey to be presented before the budget will also be provided to the members through digital means. According to Birla, only the President’s address and printed copies of the speech of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be given to the members.
It has also been a tradition that ‘Suji ka halwa’ is also made for the members and all the workers who prepare the budget on the day the budget is presented in Parliament. This is a tradition before printing in the budget printing press.
But this will not happen in this budget session due to Corona epidemic. Sources in the Parliament’s Secretariat say that printing was not possible because it was impossible to ‘quarantine’ the officers engaged in this work for 10 days.
While presenting the budget last year, Nirmala Sitharaman also ended the tradition of carrying a briefcase in the house of the finance minister and she had replaced it with a ‘ledger’.
During the first budget session, copies and documents related to it were transported to Parliament via truck. Since everything is going digital now, members will not get to see this scene either.
On this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a meeting of the leaders of the opposition in Parliament on 30 January. At the same time, the constituents of the NDA and the opposition parties will also hold separate meetings.
The opposition is also making a strategy to surround the government. At the same time, the government wants the entire session to run without any interruption. But the issues on which the government is preparing to deal with the criticism of the opposition is the farmers’ agitation and the new agricultural laws passed in the monsoon session.
Prof. Manoj Jha, leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and a member of the Rajya Sabha, while speaking to the BBC said, “The declining economy is a matter of great concern to everyone. It was already poor and due to the outbreak of epidemics of youth dreams Simultaneously, workers have also broken their back. “
“On a large scale, the employment of the people is gone and they have no choice. The government is not even talking about it yet, which gives the courage to the people. This matter is necessary and we will raise the attention of the government by raising it in the House. Will try to attract. “
He said that the opposition will seek answers from the government on the issue of national security. Especially on the question of China. At the same time, the Congress is also making its strategy to surround the government in the House.
As far as the farmers’ movement is concerned, this time the Bharatiya Janata Party may have to face opposition from its allies political parties in the NDA.
The Akali Dal is the chief among them. Other parties are also talking about the government encircling the agriculture law and the farmers’ movement.
