The Budget Session of the Parliament is expected to begin on January 29, government sources said, with the Budget being presented as per schedule on February 1. The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs or CCPA but an official announcement has not been made so far.
As in the norm, the Budget session will be conducted in two parts. The first phase, beginning from January 29 will conclude on February 15. The second part will run from March 8 to April 8, sources said.
Sources have said that at least for part one of the Budget session, all the precautions that were in place during the monsoon session will continue. These restrictions would also mean that the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha will meet alternatively. During the monsoon session of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha met for four hours in the morning, then post lunch, the same chambers were used for the Lok Sabha, which met for another four hours till the evening.
The government had cancelled the winter session of Parliament citing a rising number of Covid cases. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had said in a letter to the Congress’s Lok Sabha leader that all political parties were in favour of scrapping the session to arrest the spread of COVID positive cases. Though, Congress Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh and Trinamool Congress leader Derek O Brien both said the government did not discuss with any opposition parties before making this decision.
The only two sessions of Parliament that have been held during the pandemic- Budget session in March last year and Monsoon session had to be cut short. The Budget session which was scheduled to have 31 sittings was brought to a close after 23 sittings. Similarly, the monsoon session which was to have 18 sittings could manage to have only 10 sittings.
