Last year, monsoon session of parliament was held in September.
New Delhi: With Covid cases dropping in India, the monsoon session of parliament will be held between July 19 and August 13.
"The sixth session of the 17th Lok Sabha will commence on July 19. Subject to exigencies of government business, the session is likely to conclude on August 13," a Lok Sabha release said on Friday.
President Ram Nath Kovind, a statement from Rajya Sabha said, has also summoned the House to meet on July 19; the session will end on August 13, like the Lok Sabha session. The dates were earlier recommended by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA).
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will hold the sessions simultaneously with minimum presence of officials, staff and media to ensure social distancing. The timing will be usual - 11 am to 6 pm - with both zero hour and question hour included, officials said.
A large number of MPs have already got vaccinated.
The government's handling of second Covid wave is likely to be brought up by opposition leaders during the monsoon session. The Congress's Rahul Gandhi, among other leaders, has been relentlessly criticising the government over the issue.
The government has also been criticised over the pace of vaccination drive. So far, over 34.4 crore doses of vaccines have been given while the centre aims to vaccinate all adults - more than 108 crore people by the end of this year.
This will also be the first session after state elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had said last month that the government is hopeful that the monsoon session of parliament will begin as per its normal schedule in July.
Last year, the monsoon session of parliament, which usually begins in July, had started in September. Since coronavirus was detected in the country, three sessions of Parliament were curtailed and the winter session had to be cancelled last year.
India has so far logged 3.05 crore cases of coronavirus and 4.01 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The cases have been dropping over the last few weeks after a debilitating second wave led to shortage of medical supplies in many parts of the country.