Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the union budget on February 29. (File Photo)
The Budget session of Parliament will begin on February 23, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the union budget on February 29.
The session will be held in two parts with a recess over a month, and will end on May 13. This means that the much anticipated reshuffle of the Narendra Modi council of ministers is now not expected to happen before mid-May.
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh froze the schedule of the session on Thursday morning, after consulting leaders of political parties that will contest elections that have to be held in five states by mid-April.
The Budget session will break for a recess on March 16 and will resume on April 25, which gives the Election Commission 40 days to conduct the elections in five states- Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry.
Today's meeting was seen as an attempt to make peace with opposition parties, who opposed a proposal for a shorter Budget session this year without a recess to facilitate the election process.
The Congress' Ghulam Nabi azad, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, "we didn't want any reduction in the sittings of the Houses or a session without a recess. The absence of a recess hurts the standing committee system. The government accepted the demands of the opposition."
"We wanted the government to spell out the session schedule. The election committee can accordingly announce poll dates," said the CPM's Sitaram Yechury.
Leaders of the AIADMK, DMK, Trinamool Congress and Janata Dal United also attended the meeting.
The Budget session is crucial for the government. Apart from the budget, it will focus on pushing its big reform measure, the Goods and Services Tax bill. The government had planned to roll out GST from April this year after passing it Parliament last year, but the bill was stalled by the Opposition.
The budget session will begin with an address by President Pranab Mukherjee on February 23. The rail budget will be presented on February 25 and the Economic Survey, a day later.
The session will be held in two parts with a recess over a month, and will end on May 13. This means that the much anticipated reshuffle of the Narendra Modi council of ministers is now not expected to happen before mid-May.
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh froze the schedule of the session on Thursday morning, after consulting leaders of political parties that will contest elections that have to be held in five states by mid-April.
The Budget session will break for a recess on March 16 and will resume on April 25, which gives the Election Commission 40 days to conduct the elections in five states- Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry.
Today's meeting was seen as an attempt to make peace with opposition parties, who opposed a proposal for a shorter Budget session this year without a recess to facilitate the election process.
The Congress' Ghulam Nabi azad, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, "we didn't want any reduction in the sittings of the Houses or a session without a recess. The absence of a recess hurts the standing committee system. The government accepted the demands of the opposition."
"We wanted the government to spell out the session schedule. The election committee can accordingly announce poll dates," said the CPM's Sitaram Yechury.
Leaders of the AIADMK, DMK, Trinamool Congress and Janata Dal United also attended the meeting.
The Budget session is crucial for the government. Apart from the budget, it will focus on pushing its big reform measure, the Goods and Services Tax bill. The government had planned to roll out GST from April this year after passing it Parliament last year, but the bill was stalled by the Opposition.
The budget session will begin with an address by President Pranab Mukherjee on February 23. The rail budget will be presented on February 25 and the Economic Survey, a day later.
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